HARPERS GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS 



Dry fields, New England to Washington, D. C. It is im- 

 possible not to recognize this showy cinquefoil, with its 

 silvery stem and leaves and its handsome flowers. 



Common Cinquefoil 



P. canadensis. — This species runs upon the ground or stands 

 erect. Stems are brown, wiry, roughish. Flowers, on long pe- 

 duncles, single, from the leaf-axils. Runners are produced as 

 from strawberry vines. The 3 leaflets number apparently 5, by 

 the deep division of the 2 side leaflets. May to July. 



Dry, sandy soil, waysides in all the Eastern States. 



Silver Weed 



P. Anserma. — Calyx and corolla, 5 -divided. 5 bractlets, often 

 cut, lie between the sepals. Leaves, all from the root, pinnate, 

 with from 7 to 2 1 leaflets and smaller ones in between, dark green 

 above, silky white beneath. 2 or 3 feet long. June to August. 



The broad, open, yellow flower grows on a scape from a 

 bed of beautifully cut, handsomely colored leaves, which are 

 green above, conspicuously white beneath. Like a straw- 

 berry plant, the silver weed spreads by jointed runners. 

 Along the dunes bordering Long Island bays I have found 

 this pretty potentilla, its leaves lapping the water. In salt 

 or brackish marshes, banks of streams, very widely dissemi- 

 nated. (See illustration, p. 173.) 



Shrubby Cinquefoil 



P. fruHcosa. — Color, bright yellow. Stem, erect, much branched, 

 woody, leafy. Leaves, pinnate, with 5 to 7 leaflets, paler beneath, 

 silky, the leaflets roundish, with turned-back margins. 



In some parts of Vermont and New Hampshire this is a 

 troublesome weed, covering the low, open hills with their 

 thick bushes, which in autumn turn a dark brown. This 

 might be placed among the shrubs. 



Yellow Avens 



Geum stricium. — Family, Rose. Color, yellow. Calyx of 5 

 sepals, with bractlets in the sinuses. Petals, 5. Stamens, many. 

 Leaves, from the root, pinnate, with 5 to 7 wedge-shaped leaflets; 

 those on the stems 3 to 5-divided, with oblong, acute leaflets. 

 Stipules, prominent and deeply cleft. Pistils, many, forming 

 burs with hooked bristles in fruit on a soft, downy receptacle. 

 July and August. 



174 



