The Cinque/oil. 161 



POTENTILLA— THE CINQUEFOIL. 



1 Order, Rosace®. Unniean System, Icosandria, Polygynia. Generic 



^TV^iDCtions': Calyx, four to five cleft, with an equal number of alternate 



"erior segments ; petals, four to five, obcordate ; stamens, numerous ; 



'* ents, slender ; ovaries, collected into a head, seated on a small, 



dry receptable. 



trosanguinea. Stem, decumbent ; leaves, temate ; leaflets, obovate, 

 /eply serrated, clothed with white down beneath; petals obcordate, 

 longer than the calyx— Plate 23. 



Potentilla is derived from the Latin, potentia, power, 

 the plants belonging to this genus having been supposed to 

 ossess powerful medicinal properties. Like many other 

 botanical names, however, it is misapplied here, since none of 

 the species have been found to possess any healing principle. 

 The genus contains several very pretty and ornamental spe- 

 cies some of which are commonly cultivated, and others are 

 well known wild plants. On examining the flowers of the 

 Potentilla, they will be found to bear a striking resemblance to 

 those of the Strawberry, but the fruit will always distinguish 

 t h e two genera ; that of the Strawberry being juicy, highly 

 flavored and delicious, while the Potentilla only bears a clus- 

 ter of dry, tasteless seed vessels. All the species possess 

 compound leaves. The common name, Cinquefoil, is from 

 the French, and signifies five leaved ; and a very common 

 New England species, which flowers early in Spring, P. Cana- 

 densis, is called Five-Finger, for the same reason. Another na- 

 tive species, P. argcntca, or Silvery Five-Finger, is curious 

 on account of the silvery appearance of the down beneath 

 its leaves, which is also characteristic of P. anserina, Silver- 

 Weed, or Goose-Grass, one of the handsomest American 

 species. There are more than thirty species of Potentilla 

 belonging to North America, of which seven or eight grow in 

 the Eastern States. The color of their petals is generally 



yellow. 

 The species represented in our plate, is one of the most 



