134 SUB-ALPlNE PLANTS 



slender peduncles, springing from the forks of the stem on the 

 axils of the upper leaves. A variable plant. 



Heaths, moors, and pastures, and open woods in the plains and 

 Alps. 



Distribution. — Europe, Arctic Asia, Azores. 



Potentilla argentea L. Hoary Cinquefoil. (Plate XI.) 



Stem ascending, branched above, covered with white silky hairs. 

 Leaflets usually 5, incised, very white beneath, oboval, wedge- 

 shaped ; lower leaves stalked ; upper leaves nearly sessile. Flowers 

 small, yellow, in a loose, leafy corymb or panicle. 



Dry pastures and waste, gravelly places in the plains and lower 

 mountains. May to July. 



Distribution. — Northern and Central Europe, including the 

 British Isles. Rarely in the Mediterranean district; Western 

 Asia, Himalaya, N. America. 

 Potentilla muUifida L. 



Stem ascending, 6-12 inches high, branched above. Leaves 

 pinnate, covered on under side with silvery, silky hairs, pinnas few, 

 deeply pinnatifid, lobes linear. Flowers rather small, yellow, 2-7 

 in a terminal cyme. Petals obovate, wedge-shaped, emarginate. 



Stony places on the Alps and lower Alps on primary rocks. 

 June to August. 



Distribution. — Western Alps; rare in Switzerland, Caucasus, 

 Russia, Siberia, Lapland, Thibet. 



Potentilla aurea L. (Plate XI.) 



Rootstock woody and tufted. Stem erect or ascending, covered 

 with adpressed hairs like the whole plant, branched above, several- 

 flowered. Leaves few, palmately 5-partite, or the upper one tri- 

 partite ; segments obovate or wedge-shaped, deeply veined above, 

 grass-green and shining, with pale, long silky hairs on the under 

 side, and deeply serrated. Flowers large, bright yellow, with an 

 orange streak at the base. Achenes glabrous. 



Abundant in Alpine and sub-alpine pastures up to 9000 feet (Aig. 

 du Goleon). June to September. 



Distribution. — Jura, Carpathians, Eastern, Central, and Western 

 Alps ; Cevennes, Corbi^res, Pyrenees ; Norway. 



Potentilla grandiflora L. (Plate XVI.) 



All the leaves trifoliate. Stem erect, 4-12 inches high, branched, 

 2-5 flowered, covered with long patent hairs. Leaves trifoliate ; 

 leaflets obovate, coarsely serrate, woolly beneath. Flowers large, 

 yellow (considerably larger than in P aurea). But the drawing 

 is of the variety minor. 



Rocky places and pasture in the Alps, 5000-9000 feet ; rather 

 rare. July, August. 



