R0SACE2E. 



357 



multiple fruit, and each achene encloses a seed, containing a fleshy 

 exalbuminous embryo, with its radicle superior. 



The Strawberries are perennial herbs ; the stem is a short sym- 

 podium,' and the leaves are alternate, trifoliolate, dii^dtate, or rarely 

 pinnate, with two lateral petiolary stipules. The branches are often 

 prolonged into runners with scattered leaves, whose axillary buds 

 strike root in contact with the soil- (tig. 413). The flowers are 

 terminal, solitary, or more frequently collected into alternate, few- 

 flowered, often uniparous cymes at the summit of a common 

 peduncle. A large number of species have been described, inhabiting 

 all the temperate and alpine regions of the northern hemisphere, and 

 the mountains of South America and the Mascarene Islands.^ But 

 most of these are only forms or varieties, and there are probably not 

 half a dozen true species. 



The Potentils^ (fig^^- 420-427) come very near to the Strawberries 

 in their perianth aind androceum f and the true species are only dis- 

 tinguished by two characters, which are sometimes very ill-marked." 

 The style is usually inserted higher up on the ovary, and so the 



similar consistency to that of Comarum. When 

 it is not very fleshy the aclienes may separate 

 from it when quite ripe, as in certain Potentils. 



' Irm. (T.), BoL Zi'.it., viii. 250.— Wtlu., 

 Flora, xxxiv. 364. — Gren., Bull. Soc. Bot. de 

 Fr., ii. 349. — J. Gay, Ann. Sc. Fat., ser. 4, viii. 

 185. 



2 A, S. H., Morph. Teg., 235.— A. Juss., 

 FUm., 156.— Payer, FUm., 58, fig. 93. 



^ Ducn., E-ist. Nat. des Frais., 1766. — 

 Feenz., Frag., 1662. — L., Fraga vesca, 1772. 

 —DC, Prodr., ii. 569.— LoTJK., Fl. Cock., 325. 

 — RoxB., Fl. Lid., ii. 520. — Wight & Aen., 

 Prodr., Fl. Pen. Ind., i. 300. — Wight, Icoi., 

 t. 988, 989.— MiQ., Fl. Lid. Bat., i. p. i. 371. 

 — H. B. K., Nov. Gen. et Spec, vi. 172.— C. 

 Gay, Fl. Chil., ii. 315.— Toee. & Ge., Fl. N. 

 Amer., i. 447. — A. Geay, Man. of Bot., ed. v. 

 155 — .1. Gay, loc cit., 194. — Walp., Rep., ii. 

 25 ; Ann., i. 277. 



■» Poteniilla T., Inst., 295, t. 153.— L., Gen., 

 n. 634.— J., Gen., 338, 453.— G/EETN., Frucl., 

 i. 350, t. 73. — Lamk., Bid., ii. 527 ; Sujipl., ii. 

 667, III., t. 442.— Nestl., Mon. Potent., 1816. 

 — Lehm., Mon. Potent., 1820-35. — DC, 

 Prodr., ii. 571. — Spach, Suit, a Buff on, i. 469. 

 — Endl., Gen., n. 6363.— B. H., Gen., 620, n. 

 48. — Quinquefolimn T., Inst., 296, t. 153. — 

 Pentaphylloides T., op. cit., 2'.J8. — Adans., 

 Fam. des PI. ii. 295.— G^etn., Fruct., i. 349, 

 t. 73. — Fragariastrum ScHKUR, Fnum. Plant. 

 Transghan., 137. — Bootia Big., Fl. Bost., 351. 



* The numher of stamens is here as variahle 

 as in Fragaria. A. Dickson, who has studied 

 the arrangement of the stamens in Rosacecs 

 generally very fully (see Journ. of Bot., iii. 

 (1865), 209), and confirmed most of the results 

 obtained by Payee on this subject by organogenic 

 study (see p. 337, note 1), lias especially deter- 

 mined the number of pieces in the androceum 

 and their arrangement in Potentillas {On the 

 Staminal Arr. in some Spec, of Potent., and in 

 Nuttalliacerasiformi.s ; Journ. of Bot. iv. (1806), 

 t. Iii.). He has shown that in certain species, 

 such as P.frutico-a, the andrt;ceum forms five 

 festoons, each containing four or five stamens, and 

 extending from petal to petal; the convexity of the 

 festoons is towards the centre of the tlower, and 

 there are no stamens superposed to the sepals. 

 On these grounds the author considers the anilro- 

 ceum as formed of five compound stamens, the 

 terminal lobe of each being developed as a petal 

 so called, and the literal lobes as fertile stamens. 

 In other species, where he finds a stamen exactly 

 superposed to a sepal, he considers it the repre- 

 sentative in the androceum of one of the caly- 

 cular leaves, which are of stipular nature, and 

 hence alternate with the sepals just as the 

 oiipositisepalous stamens alternate with the op- 

 positipetalous staminal bundles. 



•"' So ill-marked indeed that we should cer- 

 tainly be consistent in refusing to retain Fra- 

 garia and PuUniilla as distinct genera. 



