
PLANTS GROWING IN DRY SOIL. 265 
SILVERY OR HOARY CINQUEFOIL. 
Potentilla argéntea. 
FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 
Rose. Yellow. Scentless. Eastern and middle states. All summer. 
Very similar to the preceding species are the large handsome 
flowers of the silvery cinquefoil. The palmately divided 
leaves, however, are distinguished by the silver-like floss which 
covers their under surface. ‘They appear to be without vanity 
and have lost all concern about having their fingers slender 
and tapering. We find them ragged and unkempt. 
P. Monspeliénsis, rough cinquefoil, grows in dry soil and has 
quite an extended range. In cultivated ground it occurs asa 
weed. 
The generic name of these plants refers to the medical pro- 
perties for which they were formerly noted. Thoreau men- 
tions that in one of his walks he met an old wood-tortoise eat- 
ing the leaves of the early potentillas, and soon afterwards an- 
other deliberately eating sorrel. They impressed him as know- 
ing the virtues of the herbs, and being able to select the ones 
best suited to the condition of their bodies. 
HOUND’S TONGUE. 
Cynogléssum officinale. 
FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 
Borage. Purplish red, or white. Unpleasant. Mostly east. June, July. 
Flowers : growing in a curved raceme that straightens as the flowers mature. 
Calyx: five-parted. Corolla: funnel-form ; five-lobed. Stamens: five. 
Pistil: one. Fruit: a nutlet covered with prickles. Leaves; alternate ; 
ovate-lanceolate ; the lower ones on petioles; slightly heart-shaped at base ; 
the upper ones sessile ; hairy. Stem: two to three feet high ; branching ; 
hairy. 
As we have found no good for which this plant is responsible, 
we must, according to Mr. Emerson, call it a weed. It bears 
the title with dignity, for it is a handsome creature with a 
beautiful velvety leaf ; but how it ever ventures to raise its head 
in face of the anathemas showered upon it by the farmers 


