POTENTILLA. ROSACEiE. 207 



Subtribe 3. Fragarie^, Torr. & Gr. Calyx jlattish, valvate in cestivation. Stamens 

 numerous, inserted with the petals into the margin of a disk that lines the base of the 

 calyx. Carpels numerous, dry, crowded on a conical or hemispherical {dry or fleshy) 

 receptacle : styles lateral or nearly terminal. Seed suspended or ascending. Radicle 

 superior. — Herbs, or very rarely shrubby plants. 



10. POTENTILLA. Linn. gen. p. 255 ; Endl. gen. 6363. CINQUEFOIL. 



[ From the Latin, polena, powerful ; in allusion to its supposed medicinal virtues.] 



Calyx concave at the base, deeply 4 - 5-cleft, with 5 alternate exterior segments or bracteoles. 

 Petals 4-5, obtuse or obcordate. Ovaries collected on a flattish, persistent, dry, villous 

 receptacle. Styles either lateral or nearly terminal, deciduous. Seed inserted next the 

 insertion of the style : radicle superior. — Herbaceous or rarely suffruticose plants, with 

 pinnately or palmately compound leaves. Flowers solitary or in cymes, yellow or white, 

 rarely red. 



• Leaves palmately trifoUolaU, 



1. PoTENTiLLA NoRVEGiCA, Linu. Nonoegiun Cinquefoil. 



Annual ; hairy ; stem erect, at length dichotomous above ; upper leaves on short petioles ; 

 leaflets oblong-obovate or lanceolate-oblong, coarsely and acutely serrate ; stipules ovate- 

 lanceolate, mostly entire ; cyme leafy ; pedicels elongated ; petals obovate, shorter than the 

 calyx ; achenia rugose-striate. — Linn. sp. 1. p. 449 ; Fl. Dan. t. I7l ; Michx. fl. \.p. 302 ; 

 Pursh, fl.l. p. 355 ; Lehm. Potent, p. 153 ; Torr. fl. I. p. 396 ; Bigel. fl. Post. p. 205 ; 

 DC.prodr. 2. p. 573 ; Hook. fl. Bor.-Am. \.p. 193 ; Becli, bat. p. 106 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. 

 p. 303 ; Torr. <^ Gr. fl. N. Am. 1. p. 436. P. Monspeliensis, Linn. P. hirsuta, Michx. 

 I. c. ; Pursh, I. c. ; Hook. I. c. P. Morisoni, DC. I. c. 



Whole plant hairy. Stem 8-18 inches high, sometimes almost hispid, at first nearly 

 simple, finally more or less branched, occasionally decumbent. Lower and radical leaves 

 petiolate : leaflets 1-2 inches long : petioles hispidly pilose. Flowers in a compound leafy 

 cyme ; the pedicels half an inch or more in length. Segments of the calyx ovate-oblong, 

 acuminate. Petals pale yellow, a little emarginate. Carpels commonly marked with several 

 strong curved wrinkles, but these are sometimes faint : style terminal or nearly so, short. 



Old fields, cultivated grounds ; an introduced plant in most parts of the State, but in the 

 northern counties apparently native. 



2. PoTENTiLLA TRiDENTATA, Ait. Three-tootJied Cinquefoil. 



Stems ascending, woody and creeping at the base ; leaflets oblong-cuneiform, 3-toothed at 

 the extremity, nearly smooth and somewhat shining above, pale and pubescent underneath ; 



