206 



ROSACEAE (ROSE FAMILY) 



rather small, the five rounded, pale yellow petals being less 

 than half as long as the hairy, pointed, persistent calyx-lobes which 

 are subtended by bracts still longer; stamens many. After the 

 flower has been fertilized the long calyx-lobes close protectingly 

 over the cone-like heads until the many small achenes have 

 ripened and are ready to be scattered by the swaying of the tall 

 weed in the wind. (Fig. 148.) 



Means of control 



Close cutting w r hile in first bloom ; cultivation of the ground for 

 one or two seasons. 



. SILVERY CINQUEFOIL 

 Potentilla argentea, L. 



Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 



Time of bloom : May to September. 



Seed-time: Late June to November. 



Range: Nova Scotia to the Dakotas, southward to Maryland and 



Kansas. Native also to Europe and Asia. 

 Habitat : Dry soil ; fields, meadows, and pastures. 



The plant from which this description 

 is written was pulled from a sidehill grass 

 lot, on which the grass was burned brown 

 and apparently dead from the drought 

 but the weed did not appear to be suffer- 

 ing. Root deep, hard, and woody, with 

 branching, fibrous rootlets. Stems tufted, 

 spreading, three inches to a foot in length, 

 also coarse and woody, covered with woolly 

 white hair. Leaves palmately five-foliate, 

 usually less than an inch broad, smooth 

 and green above but silver-white beneath 

 with woolly hair; leaflets wedge-shaped, 

 deeply cut, entire toward the base, with 

 margins revolute. Flowers in cymose clus- 

 ters, terminal on short pedicels, about a 

 quarter-inch broad, the calyx white-woolly, 

 the five rounded petals greenish yellow, 



FIG. 149. Silvery 

 Cinquefoil (Potentilla 

 argentea). X j. 



