TORMENTIL. 36 3 



cumbent, round, slender, wiry, slightly hairy, branched anddicho- 

 tomous above, varying from eight to sixteen inches in length. 

 The leaves are alternate, amplexicaul, nearly sessile, of three 

 leaflets, (towards the base of five,) which are lanceolate-ellip- 

 tical, or somewhat rhomboid, deeply serrated, slightly pubes- 

 cent, bright green above, paler beneath, with two deeply cut 

 stipules at the base. The flowers are axillary and lateral, 

 solitary and erect, on long, filiform, naked peduncles. The 

 calyx is usually eight-cleft, the segments ovate, acute, spread- 

 ing, alternately smaller ; the four outer narrower and accessory. 

 The petals are commonly four, golden yellow, obcordate, emar- 

 ginate, attached by short claws to the rim of the calyx. The 

 stamens are numerous, (sixteen to twenty,) with yellow capil- 

 lary filaments inserted into the calyx, not half the length of 

 the petals, tipped with roundish-ovate, compressed, didymous, 

 erect anthers. The germens are several, (about eight,) gla- 

 brous, roundish, obtuse, with the style attached laterally, ter- 

 minated by an obtuse stigma. The fruit consists of several 

 minute nuts or achenia, seated on a small depressed hairy 

 receptacle ; they are ovate, obscurely wrinkled, and smooth. 

 Plate 45, fig. 1 ; (a) calyx, natural size ; (b) stamens ; (c) 

 pistil. 



Tormentil is common on heaths, dry barren pastures, and by 

 road sides, flowering in June and July. 



Tormentilla is derived from tormina, a pain or griping, in 

 allusion to the use of the plant in dysentery. It has also been 

 called Heptaphyllum and Scptfoil, from the seven divisions of 

 the lower leaves. 



There is some diversity of opinion as to whether the Tor- 

 mentil should constitute a separate genus, or be united with 

 Potentilla. We have not unfrequently gathered a Tormentilla 

 with five petals and a ten-parted calyx ; and the different spe- 

 cies of Potentilla may sometimes be found varying with four 

 and five petals. We therefore prefer, with Nestler and others, 

 to consider the Tormentil as a Potentilla, in which one-fifth of 

 the parts of fructification are suppressed. On this principle, 

 the other British species of Tormentil {Tormentilla reptans, 

 Linn.) would be a variety of Potentilla reptans. We have 

 already described the common creeping Cinquefoil, (P. rep- 

 tans) ; another species, the Silver-weed, (P. anserina,) known 



