354 LI. EOSACEji. (J. D. Hooker.) IPotentilla. 



gins recurved, flowers yellow J-f in. diam. corymbose, achenes numerous minute, 

 style terminal. Lehm. Hevis. PotentiU. 34. P. breyiscissa, Bertol. Misc. Bat. 

 xxiv. 17, t. 5. 



Kashmib and Westben Tibet, alt. 10-16,000 ft.; Niti Pass, Ktjmaon, alt. 

 16,300 ft., Str. ^ WinU—DistRXB. Afghanistan to the Caucasus. Northern and Cen- 

 tral Europe and Asia from Lapland and the Pyrenees ; China ; temperate and Arctic 

 N. America. 



As variable in stature as P. sericea, and in other respects also. Eootstoek short, 

 erect, -vrith many crowns of leaves and stout or slender, suberect or prostrate or as- 

 cending stems. Leaves ^2 in. diam., normally with 5 subdigitate lobes, but often with 

 lobes more pinnately dispersed on the slender petiole which is sometimes i in. long ; 

 divisions of pinnules ^-^ in. broad. Flowers |-^ in. diam., in dose or open corymbose 

 cymes, or few, or solitary in reduced forms, subsessile or on long slender pedicels. 

 Calyx silky ; lobes ovate, acute ; bracteoles linear-oblong, obtuse. FetaU orbicular- 

 obovate, retuse. Achents glabrous, exactly like those of P. sericea ; receptacle hairy. 

 — A considerable number of species in different sections of Lehman's "Revision " are 

 I'eferahle to this species. P. altaica, Bunge is a state with leaflets reduced to three. 

 P. verticillaris, Steph., referred here by Ledebour, is according to our specimens 

 partly P. multifida and partly sericea. 



Vak. glabrata ; dwarf, lootstock stout, stem prostrate, leaves dense nearly gla- 

 brous, flowers small. 



Vab. minor, Ledeb. Fl. Boss. ii. 42 ; very slender, leaflets pinnate cut into very 

 slender lobes. P. teneUa, Turcz. West Tibet, Falconer. Affghanistan, Griffith. 



Vab. Saundersiana ; very small, leaves palmately 3-5-foliolate, leaflets ^-J in. 

 deeply incised tomentose or silky beneath. P. Saundersiana, Royle III. 207, t. 41, 

 f. 1 ; Lehm. Sevis. PotentiU. 113. Western Tibet, alt. 16-17,000 ft. Also in Siberia 

 and Arctic latitudes. Very small 3-foliolate specimens are perhaps undistinguishable 

 from P. nivea, L., and var. hololeuca of P. sericea may be referable here. Dwarf 

 forms of these three species are hardly distinguishable in a dry state. 



25. P. sericea, Linn. ; Boiss, Fl. Orient, ii. 709 ; wHte, densely silkily 

 tomentose, stems many, leaves oblong pinnate, leaflets 5-11 silky on both sur- 

 faces, cut nearly to the base into linear subacute ascending lobes vrith recurved 

 margins, flowers yellow ^-| in. diam. corymbose, petals orbicular-obovate, 

 achenes many smootb, carpels glabrous, style terminal. Lehm. Bevis. PoteniU, 

 33. P. cinerascens, Bertol. Piant. Niun. Asiat. 7, t. 63. P. soongarica, Bunge ; 

 Leda. Fl. Boss. ii. 42. 



Western Tibet, and Tibetan region of the Western Alpine Himalaya, from 

 Kabhmie, alt. 9-17,000 ft. to Kumaon. — DistkeB. Affghanistan to the Caucasus and 

 Armenia. Soongaria, N. China, Temperate and Asiatic N. America. 



A veiy variable plant, diminishing in size with the increasing elevation from 

 18 in. to 3 in.; covered more or less densely with soft shining silky hairs. Rootstaik 

 very stout, perpendicular, with many heads. Leaves crowded, 1-6 in. long, rarely more 

 than 1 in. broad; leaflets oblong, all cut nearly to the midrib, rarely only halfway to 

 it, the terminal leaflets pedately disposed, the lateral opposite and alternate. FUtui- 

 tring stems ascending, densely tomentose, corymbosely many-flowered in the larger 

 specimens, few or 1-floweredin the smaller. dJiyai-foies triangular-ovate or lanceolate, 

 acute ; bracteoles narrowly oblong, obtuse. Achenes quite smooth.— I can find no cha- 

 racter whereby to separate P. soongarica from the common Tibetan form of seri- 

 cea and it is dif^cult to retain hololeuca and poh/schista as distinct forms, to whioh 

 may be added certain forms of P. pensg^voftica, L. 



Var. poli/S'hista, Lehm. ; dwarf, densely tufted, leaflets 3-5 short, flowers smaller — 

 alt. 18-17,000 ft.— P. polyschista, Boiss. Flor. Orient, ii. 710. 



Vas. hololeuca, Boiss.; Fl. Orient, ii. 710 (sp.); dwarf, leaflets 3-5, ovate pin- 

 natifid to the middle, most densely white tomentose beneath, flowers few small. 

 Lehm. Bevis. Pot. 69, t. 27. Perhaps referable to P. midtifida — Pugha in Little Tibet, 



