MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 279 



leaves. The flowers are very pretty and velvety, and commonly 

 grow in the moist meadows, for there 



" The silver-weed with yellow flowers, 

 Half hidden by the leaf of gray, 

 Blooms on the bank of that clear brook 

 Whose music cheers my lonely way." 



The Silver-weed creeps along the ground by means of 

 slender many -jointed runners, and its stems are usually 

 curved and winding. When the fruit ripens it consists of a 

 head formed of several little achenes, or nutlets. The Po ten- 

 til las are very numerous in the mountain regions. 



P. arguta, or Tall Cinquefoil, is a handsome plant, with 

 coarse pinnate leaves, the terminal one being wedge-shaped 

 and three-cleft at the top, and has small white flowers growing 

 abundantly in loose clusters. 



P. Norvegica, or Rough Cinquefoil, is a coarse weed-like 

 plant, with leaves that are divided into three leaflets, and 

 yellow flowers that grow in rather close leafy clusters. 



P. Hippiana, or Woolly Cinquefoil, is a stout plant, with 

 quantities of densely floccose and silky foliage. The leaflets 

 are whitish and woolly on both sides, and deeply dentated. 

 The flowers are bright yellow, and grow in graceful terminal 

 clusters. 



P. gracilis, or Small Cinquefoil, has very small leaves, 

 heart-shaped in outline and composed of from three to seven 

 leaflets, which are white and woolly beneath and green and 

 silky on the top. The little flowers are yellow. 



P. nivea, or Alpine Cinquefoil, grows at great altitudes and 

 is found at 8500 feet. It is a tiny plant, with small trifoliate 

 white and woolly leaves and wee terminal yellow flowers. 



In studying the Potentillas it is wise to refer to the 

 Ranimcjili, also recorded in this Section, and note the close 

 resemblance yet distinct variations which exist between the 

 two genera. The differences between the foliage of the 



