358 



NATUliAL UlSTOIiY OF PLANTS. 



ovule is more distinctly pendulous and more perfectly anatropous. 

 ^Moreover, the receptacle does not become as thick and succulent as 

 in the Strawberries, trenerally remaining dry and covered with hairs. 

 Ti) this i'enus we add below, as so many sections, a certain number 

 of aberrant types. 



Potentilla reptans (Cinque/oil). 



Fig. 420. 

 Habit. 



We may clearly see how badly the character of the consistency of 

 the receptacle distinguishes the Strawberries, and that the two genera 

 should strictly be united into one, for Comaritm,' of which one species 

 is Ibund in marshy places over a large part of Europe, has fruits 

 with a spongy receptacle, not so dry as in most Potentils, or so 

 fleshy as in most Strawberries. 



Tnchothahmm- is 'Potentilla in which the hairs covering the recep- 

 tacle are longer and more numerous than in the other species. It 

 cannot be separated from the genus any more than TormentiUa^ whose 

 llower is usually tetramerous, a number only exceptionally found in 

 some other species. 



The androceum is reduced in some of the true Potentils, as indi- 

 cated by the specific name of P. pentandra.^ 



Here, as in the Strawberries, the habit may vary very much. 

 There are woody or sutl'rutescent species like P. ar/)uscu!a, frtiticosa, 



' L., Gen., ii, 638.— G.T!BTN., Frvct., i. 34<J, 

 t. 73.— Touu. & CiK., Fl. JS. Am., i. 447.— 

 E.NDL., Oin., n. 6302. The purple colour of the 

 jK-tals r)f C. Pubislre L. {Upec, 718; — Tolen- 

 lilla Comaium Scoi'., Fl. Curniol , ed. 2, v. i. 

 35'J ; — I', iithra Hall. F., See. J/««. Helo.,\. 

 50; — r. pahistris Leiim., Pot., 52), is insuf- 

 ficient to distinguish it Jiom all the other Poten- 

 tils. Hut it is noteworthy that the stamens are 

 usually twenty in number, and that the five 

 outermost, sujierposcd to the sepals, are reflexed 

 to such an extent that their anthers become ex- 

 trorsc, at least nt the season of fertilization. 



The five leaves of the c.ilycle are often dedupli- 

 eated. The carpels are very numerous. 



- Lehm., JSov. Act. Acad. Casar., x. 585. 

 t. 49. — Lehmannia Teatt., Ros. Monogr. iv. 

 144. 



3 Tormenlilla erecta L. {Spec, 716;— T. 

 officinalis Sm., Fnr/l. Bot., t. 863 ; — Potentilla 

 Tormentilla Nestl., Mon., 65. — Scueanck, 

 ex Leiim., Mon., 149;— DC, Prodr., n. 18;— 

 P. tctrapetala Hall. ¥., See. Mus. Helv., i. 51 ; 

 — P. nemoralis Nestl., loc. cit. ). 



" See Benth. & Hook., Gen., 621. 



