22 



CINQUEFOIL; FIVE-FINGER. 



The left hand picture shows the 

 common Cinquefoil, the one that 

 spreads so abundantly over fields and 

 pastures, while on the right is Silvery 

 Cinquefoil, so called because of the 

 silvery appearance of the under sur- 

 faces of the leaves. The latter spe- 

 cies is most common in dry barren 

 ground, especially near the coast. 



The common Cinquefoil is regard- 

 ed as a pernicious weed since it 

 spreads so rapidly by means of its 

 creeping stem. It is often mistaken 

 for the Wild Strawberry or called the 

 yellow flowered strawberry. There is 

 a yellow flowered Barren Strawberry 

 that grows profusely on our hillsides and in small woods 

 but it is easily recognized by the pretty trifoliate leaves that 

 carpet the ground, often in the same localities as Cinquefoil. 

 STEEPLEBUSH or HARDHACK also belongs to the 

 rose family although one would not suspect it at a casual 

 glance. Yet each tiny pink flower has all the rose charac- 

 ters except size. It is a very attractive plant or shrub stand- 

 ing erect, from two to five feet tall, with reddish-brown stem 

 closely set with handsome leaves which are dark green above 

 and light on the under surfaces, the whole topped off with 

 the delicately colored spire-like flower cluster. The flowers 

 blossom from the summit downward and the period of 

 bloom is so long continued that by the time the lower flow- 

 ers are fully opened the upper ones are faded and brownish 

 in color. These small flowers secrete little or no nectar but 

 have an abundance of pollen and are consequently visited 

 by pollen eating bees and flies. These visitors cannot avoid 

 carrying pollen from plant to plant and shaking it from 

 upper flowers to receptive stigmas of flowers below. Hard- 

 hack grows most abundant in low land but also in moist 

 situations at any elevation. 



