FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS 127 
yellow, rarely purple or white flowers, and either palmate or pinnate 
compound leaves, those of the palmate type being frequently composed 
of five leaflets, so that the plants have received the name of cinquefoil 
or five-finger. The closely allied genus Comarum illustrates practically 
the same type (see Fig. 112). The tormentil (P. Tormentilla) is the 
only species possessing marked medicinal properties. Fragaria, the 
strawberry, is another genus whose members are mainly of northern 
distribution. Wild strawberries, of one sort or another, occur through- 
out the country; and we are all familiar with the advances made by 
horticultural science in the domes- 
tic strawberry. It should be pointed 
out that the edible portion of this 
fruit consists of the enlarged pulpy 
axis or receptacle, while the so-called 
“seeds ” embedded on its surface are 
the real fruits, each being a small 
one-seeded achene. In the raspberry 
and blackberry, members of the 
genus Rubus, the fruit is of wholly 
different structure, consisting of a 
coherent mass of little stone-fruits 
or drupes, which when ripe pull easily 
away from the dry columnar recep- 
tacle. Rubus is likewise of temper- 
ate distribution, but its species are 
found in several continents; they are 
especially numerous and very diffi- 
cult to identify in Europe. The lit- : ‘ ; 
tle Arctic and alpine herbs belong- Me eee Wie Bote 
ing to the genus Dryas are somewhat Brown, Ill. Fl. Northeast. U.S. 
similar to the preceding in the appearance of their flowers, but the nu- 
merous achenes, when ripe, are tipped with long plumose styles like 
those of a clematis. In Geum, a genus which furnishes some ornamen- 
tal species, the styles are also persistent, but not always plumose. The 
same floral structure may be seen in the mountain mahogany (Cercocar- 
pus) and several allied trees of the western States. The herb known as 
agrimony (Agrimonia Eupatoria) was formerly of much repute in med- 
icine. Its leaves and rootstocks are astringent, the latter yielding a 
yellow dye. Several spécies of this genus occur in the United States; 
the calyx of the small yellowish flowers is beset with bristly hooks, 
which furnish a means of artificial transportation for the ripe fruit along 
with other “stick-tights.” The burnets belong to the genus Sanguz- 
sorba; they are tall herbs with spikes of small white flowers. In this 
