Potentilla.] XXIV. EOSACEAE. 131 



upwards. Flowers hermaphrodite, cymose, with a foliaceous bract at the base of 

 the cyme and ovate braeteoles at the base of the pedicels. Calyx-lobes spreading. 

 Seceptacle of the fruit globose or ovoid, pulpy, thickly dotted with aehenes. 



NORTH and SOUTH Islands : a garden escape, not fully naturalised. Wild strawberry. 

 Oct. to Deo. Europe, North Africa, West Asia. 



=■■ F. elatior, Ehrh., Beitr. vii. 23. Larger than the preceding and more hairy. 

 Leaflets petiolulate. Flowers partly dioecious. Pedicels with spreading hairs. 



NORTH Island : Auckland, Cheeseman. A garden escape. I have not seen this in a wild 

 state. Hautbois strawberry. Nov. to Jan. 



3. POTENTILLA, Linn. 

 Calyx persistent ; lobes 5 or !• ; braotlets as many^ valvate in bud. Petals 

 5 or 4. Stamens usually numerous. Carpels many ; styles lateral or terminal ; 

 ovule 1^ pendulous. Achenes many, forming a head on the dry glabrate 

 pubescent or hairy receptacle. Perennial herbs or rarely shrubs, with com- 

 pound leaves, stipules adnate to the petiole, and solitary or cymose flowers. 



Species, about 160. Chiefly distributed through the temperate and arctic zones of the 

 Northern Hemisphere ; extremely rare in the Southern. 



Leaves all radical, pinnate . . . . . . • . ■ • • • . . 1. P. Anserina. 



Leaves palmately 3-5-foliolate . . . ■ ■ ■ .. * P. reptans. 



1. P. Anserina, L., Sp. Pi. 495. Stemless, silvery with white tomen- 

 tum, rootstock giving off numerous jointed runners. Leaves 3in.— 6in. long, 

 unequally pinnate ; leaflets in 5—20 pairs, oblong, obovate or rounded, with very 

 small ones intermixed, sharply toothed or incised, silky, tomentose beneath or 

 on both surfaces. Scapes erect, 1-flowered, equalling the leaves. Flowers 

 iin.— lin. in diameter, yellow. Receptacle villous. Achenes silky or rarely 

 glabrous. — Hook, f., Fl. N.Z. i. 54 ; Handbk. 54. 



Var. anserinoides, Raoul, (sp.), Choix 28. Leaflets small, Jin.-Jin. long, rounded, sessile or 

 petioled ; intermediate leaflets minute. 



NORTH and SOUTH Islands : Auckland Isthmus to Southland ; ascends to 3,000ft. CHAT- 

 HAM Islands. Silver-weed. Dec, Jan. 



Also in the arctic region*!, and in most temperate countries in both hemispheres. Var. anseri- 

 noides endemic in New Zealand. 



* P. reptans, L., Sp. PL 499. Stems pubescent, filiform, creeping and rooting 

 at the nodes. Leaves on long slender petioles, digitately 3-5-foliolate, solitary or 

 in pairs ; leaflets obovate, bluntly serrate. Stipules almost free. Peduncles slender, 

 equalhng or exceeding the leaves. Flowers yellow, fin. in diameter. Achenes granu- 

 late. 



NORTH Island : Waikato, Auckland ; Wellington : a iew plants only. SOUTH Island : 

 Akaroa, naturalised. Creeping cinque/oil. Nov. to Jan. Europe, North and West Asia. 



*ALCHEMILLA, Linn. 



Calvx persistent, urceolate, 4-5-lobed, valvate in bud ; braeteoles 4-5. Petals 0. 

 Stamens 1-4, perigynous. Disk lining the calyx-tube, thickened at the mouth. 

 Carpels 1-5, enclosed in the calyx-tube ; style basal or ventral. Achenes 1-4. Seeds 

 ascendin". Low herbs, with palmately-lobed or -divided leaves and greenish cymose 

 or corymbose flowers. 



