MEMOIRS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OP BOTANY OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 51 



24. Potentilla argentea L. 



PotentiUa argentea L. Sp. PL 497. 1753. 



L. Sp. PL Ed. 2: 712; MilL Gard. Diet. Ed. 8: no. 5 ; Ait. Hort. Kew. 2: 215; 

 Ed. 2, 3 : 270 ; Dietr. Pflanz. Ed. 2 : 91 ; Willd. Sp. PL 2 : 1101 ; Poir. in Lam. Enc. 

 Meth. 5 : 590 ; Persoon, Syn. PL 2 : 54 ; Nestl. Mon. Pot. 26 and 48 ; Haller, Syn. Pot. 

 55; Lehin. Mon. 24 and 94; SprengeL Syst. Veg. 2: 537; Seringe in DC. Prod. 2: 

 576 ; Don, Gard. Diet. 2 : 553 ; Dietr. Syn. PL 3 : 181 ; Walp. Eep. 2 : 33 ; Ann. 2 : 

 490 ; Ledeb. Fl. Ross. 2 : 47 ; Lehm. Rev. Pot. 96. 



Pursh, FL Am. Sept. 355; Bigelow, FL Bost. 124; Ed. 2: 204; Nutt. Gen. N. A 

 PL 1 : 310 ; Eat. Man. Ed. 2 : 379 ; Ed. 3 : 408 ; Ed. 5 : 344 ; Ed. 6 : 280 ; Ed. 7 : 457 

 Torr. FL U. S. 497 ; Comp. 210 ; Beck, Bot. 107 ; Ed. 2 : 99 ; Torr. & Gray, Fl. N. Am 

 1: 441; Eat. & Wr. N. Am. Bot. 373; Gray, Man. 122; Ed. 2: 118; Ed. 5: 154 

 Noll, Fl. Pa. 433 ; Wood, Class Book, 343 ; Am. Bot. & Fl. 107 ; Wats. Proc. Am. Acad 

 8 : 558 ; Wats. & Coult. in Gray, Man. Ed. 6 : 160 ; Bailey in Gray, F. F. & G. Bot. Rev. 

 Ed. 152 ; Rydb. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, 24 : 9 ; Britton & Brown, 111. Fl. 2 : 209. 



Lehm. in Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. 1 : 191 ; Provancher, Fl. Can. 189; Macoun, Cat. 

 Can. PL 139 and 517. 



Potentilla argentea dentata Beck, Bot. 107. 1833. 



Illustrations : Dietr. Boruss. 4 : pi. !<!73 r Sturm, Deutschl. Fl. 17 : pi. 5 ;* Engl. 

 Bot. 2^1. 89; Britt. and Brov^n, 111. Fl f. 19 U. Plate 13, f. 1; dissection of flower,/. 

 2; pistil,/. 3 ; stamen,/. 4; fruiting hypanthium and calyx,/. 5. 



Stems many from the rootstock, rather bushy, branched and leafy, 1-5 dm. high, 

 ascending, grayish-tomentose, or glabrate in age, often tinged with brown or purple. Stip- 

 ules from ovate-lanceolate and rarely 2-3-toothed to nearly linear and entire. Leaves 

 digitate, all except the uppermost with 5 leaflets, glabrous and green above, white-tomen- 

 tose beneath, rather coriaceous ; leaflets obovate or cuneate, entire at the base, then 

 deeply divided into narrow oblong or linear divisions which are acute and with revolute 

 margins. Hypanthium tomentose, in fruit seldom over 5 mm. in diameter. Bractlets 

 oblong, obtuse, nearly equalling the ovate acute mucronate or obtuse sepals. Petals 

 obovate-cuneate, emarginate, scarcely exceeding the calyx. 



P. argentea is one of the easiest species to identify, by its small floAvers, deeply dis- 

 sected leaves, which are white-tomentose, especially beneath, and have revolute margins. 

 It is a native of Europe and Asia, probably also of America. In this country it extends 

 from Nova Scotia to the District of Columbia, Dakota and Kansas. 



