PLANTS GROWING IN DRY SOIL. 265 



SILVERY OR HOARY CINQUEFOIL. 



Potentilla argentea. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Rose. Yellow. Scentless. Eastern and middle states. All summer. 



Very similar to the preceding species are the large handsome 

 flowers of the silvery cinquefoil. The palmately divided 

 leaves, however, are distinguished by the silver-like floss which 

 covers their under surface. They appear to be without vanity 

 and have lost all concern about having their fingers slender 

 and tapering. We find them ragged and unkempt. 



P. Monspelie'nsis, rough cinquefoil, grows in dry soil and has 

 quite an extended range. In cultivated ground it occurs as a 

 weed. 



The generic name of these plants refers to the medical pro- 

 perties for which they were formerly noted. Thoreau men- 

 tions that in one of his walks he met an old wood-tortoise eat- 

 ing the leaves of the early potentillas, and soon afterwards an- 

 other deliberately eating sorrel. They impressed him as know- 

 ing the virtues of the herbs, and being able to select the ones 

 best suited to the condition of their bodies. 



HOUND'S TONGUE. 



Cynogldssum officinale. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Borage. Purplish red, or white. Unpleasant. Mostly east. June, July. 



Flowers : growing in a curved raceme that straightens as the flowers mature. 

 Calyx: five-parted. Corolla: funnel-form; five-lobed. Stamens: five. 

 Pistil: one. Fruit: a nutlet covered with prickles. Leaves: alternate 

 ovate-lanceolate ; the lower ones on petioles ; slightly heart-shaped at base 

 the upper ones sessile ; hairy. Stem : two to three feet high ; branching 

 hairy. 



As we have found no good for which this plant is responsible, 

 we must, according to Mr. Emerson, call it a weed. It bears 

 the title with dignity, for it is a handsome creature with a 

 beautiful velvety leaf ; but how it ever ventures to raise its head 

 in face of the anathemas showered upon it by the farmers 



