174 RCXSACE^E. frag aria. 



COM ARUM. 



8 FRAGARIA Tourn. L. Gen. n 633. (strawberry). 



Acquiescent stoloniferous perennials with trifoliolate, coarsely 

 toothed leaves and white flowers in few-flowered cymes upon 

 erect scapes in early spring. Calyx concave, persistent, the 

 limb 5-lobed with 5 alternate bractlets, valvate in the bud. Petals 

 5. Stamens many, in one row. Carpels numerous, smooth ; 

 style lateral, very short; ovule solitary, ascending. Receptacle 

 large, fleshy, becoming conical and pulpy, bearing the small 

 turgid crustaceous achenes upon its surface, at length separat- 

 ing from the conical central portion of the torus. 



F. cuneifolia Nutt. T. & G. Fl. i, 448. Usually low; petioles and 

 scapes villous with spreading hairs : leaves 1-6 inches high; leaflets cune- 

 ate-oblong, very obtuse and coarsely toothed at the summit, smooth above, 

 appressed silky beneath : scapes shorter than the petioles, 1-few-tlowered, 

 decumbent or ascending; bractlets oblanceolate, entire, shorter than the 

 lanceolate acuminate calyx-lobes : receptacle sparingly villous, in fruit 

 semi-hemispherical to oblong 3-9 lines, in diameter: achenes deeply im- 

 bedded in the receptacle. Very common in prairies and open places, Alaska 

 to California. 



F. Calif or nica Cham & Schlecht. Linn, ii, 20. Comparatively tall, 2- 

 12 inches high : pubescence of the petioles and scapes usually appressed, 

 sometimes spreading and appressed on the same plant : leaflets obovate to 

 oblong, more or less cuneate at base, coarsely toothed above the middle, 

 appressed -silky beneath, sparingly villous above, 6-18 lines long : scapes 

 equalling or surpassing the leaves, erect; bractlets linear-oblanceolate, en- 

 tire or sparingly toothed, about equalling the triangular acuminate calyx- 

 lobes : receptacle very sparingly if at all hairy; fruit oblong to obovoid, 3-6 

 lines in diameter : achenes slightly imbedded in the receptacle. Common 

 throughout the Pacific States, always in wooded districts. 



9 COMARUM L. Gen. n. 638. 



Perennial herbs with pinnate leaves, mostly scarious wholly 

 adnate stipules and purple flowers. Calyx flat, deeply 5-cleft, 

 rarely 6-7 cleft, with as many smaller alternate deflexed bract- 

 lets. Petals 5, somewhat persistent. Stamens numerous, in- 

 serted into the thickened and hairy slightly lobed disk which 

 lines the bottom of the calyx; filaments subulate, persistent. 

 Achenes aggregated on the convex, at length very large and 

 fleshy or spongy persistent receptacle : styles filiform, at length 

 deciduous, inserted below the apex of the ovary; stigma simple. 

 Seed inserted next the insertion of the style, pendulous. Radicle 

 superior. 



C. palustre L. Sp. 502. Stems stout, ascending from a decumbent 

 rooting perennial base %-2 feet long, glabrous below, minutely silky or 

 glandular-pubescent above: lower stipules scarious, amplexicaul, long-ad- 

 nate to the petiole; the upper broadly ovate, entire: leaves pinnate: leaflets 

 5-7, oblong 1-2 inches long, more or less pubescent beneath, dark green 

 above, coarsely serrate: flowers dark purple, in an open few-flowered cyme ; 

 bractlets linear, acuminate, much shorter than the calyx; calyx-lobes 

 purple within, ovate, acuminate, becoming 6-10 lines long; petals spatu- 

 fate, acute, 2-3 lines long; stamens 20, with stout fleshy filaments, in one 

 row > carpels very numerous, sessile upon the large fleshy receptacle. In 

 marshes and bogs, Alaska to California and across the continent. 



