240 THE ROSE FAMILY. 



mountains as Pisgah, Craggy, Satula and Grandfather that this little plant 

 becomes conspicuous. And perhaps it has chosen these haunts because 

 comparatively few little ground plants are there to detract from its sprightly 

 form and gay white flowers. This species is also known under the name 

 Sibbaldiopsis tridentata, and is probably more correctly regarded as a sepa- 

 rate genus from the little plant described below, which is a true Potentilla. 



P. Canade7isis, cinquefoil, or five finger, is the little individual common 

 from Georgia to Quebec and familiar to all when found in old fields and 

 sterile land by the side of the wild strawberry. Its solitary, quaint flowers 

 are yellow and grow on long, thread-like pedicels ; have their lateral leaflets 

 divided to the base, and form therefore the supposed resemblance to five 

 human fingers. Usually the plant is low and" spreads itself by runners. 

 Herbalists collect it when in flower. 



WHITE AVENS. 



Geum Canadense. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Rose. White. Scentless. Missouri and Georgia May-August. 



and ttortkzvard. 



Flowers : rather small ; growing on pubescent and bracted pedicels in loose 

 cymes. Calyx : persistent, with five lanceolate reflexed lobes and five small inter- 

 mediate bracts. Petals-: rounded, often shorter than the sepals. Stamens: nu- 

 merous ; filaments, thread-like. Fruit: a rounded head of prickly carpels. Leaves: 

 those from the base with long hairy petioles, lobed, three-foliate or pinnately 

 divided, the terminal leaflet broadly ovate, the others narrower oval, or obovate in 

 outline, unevenly serrate, or dentate, scattered on the upper surface with fine white 

 hairs and pubescent underneath. Stevi leaves : short petioled or sessile, three to 

 five lobed or divided, arising from a pair of small dentate stipules. Stem : erect ; 

 branching near the summit. 



In shaded places there must verily be a dearth of bloom before one 

 would linger long by the white avens. For it cannot be gainsaid that it is 

 rather unattractive, with flowers too small to show much, and leaves so 

 irregular and variously formed as greatly to disturb the composure. It is 

 one of those individuals, however, that late in the autumn takes the wanderer 

 in the woods unawares, and fastens the hooked style of its burrs securely on 

 his clothing, no matter whether its hiding place is seen, or not. It is then 

 no easy matter to pick them off, but the slower the process, as one travels 

 along, and the greater the distances apart that they are thrown, the better is 

 its service done, and the more extended becomes the plant's future holdings 

 of the soil. 



