Potentilla. | XXVI. ROSACEA, 139 
spot on the Breidden Hill in Montgomeryshire. [This very rare plant 
has quite recently been found in another locality in the eastern counties 
of Wales. Fl. May and June. | 
10. P. palustris, Scop. (fig. 322). Marsh P.—A perennial, 1 to 14 
feet high, often assuming a bluish-purple colour, glabrous or more or 
less hairy in the upper part ; the stems decumbent and rooting at the 
base. Stipules not distinct from the enlarged base of the leafstalk. 
Leaflets mostly 5, shortly pinnate at the end of the stalk, oblong, 
toothed, nearly glabrous above and hoary underneath, or softly hairy 
on both sides, and often near 2 inches long. Flowers in a loose, irre- 
gular corymb, of a dingy purple; the inner segments of the calyx 
broad, with long points, the outer ones narrow and much smaller. 
Petals shorter than the calyx. Carpels numerous and small, on a some- 
what enlarged, rather spongy receptacle, on which account this plant 
was considered by Linnzeus as “ae a distinct genus, Comarum 
palustre, Linn. 
In marshes, peat-bogs, and wet places, in northern and central 
Kurope, Asia, and a portion of North America, penetrating far into the 
Arctic regions. - Widely distributed over Britain, but rare in the south 
of England. 7. summer. 
= 
VIII. ALCHEMILLA. ALCHEMIL. 
Tufted herbs, either annual or with a perennial, almost woody stock, 
and annual flowering-stems, palmately lobed or divided leaves, and 
small green flowers, in loose panicles or in small sessile heads. Calyx 
free, double, that is, of 8 divisions, of which 4 alternate ones are outside 
and smaller. No petals. Stamens 4 or fewer, Carpels 1 or 2, 1-seeded, 
and enclosed in the dry tube of the calyx. 
The species are very few, but widely spread over the northern hemi- 
sphere, chiefly in mountainous districts. The palmate, not pinnate 
leaves, and inflorescence, readily distinguish them from the two follow- 
ing apetalous genera. 
Perennial. Flowers in terminal panicles. 
Leaves green on both sides, with short, broad, palmate lobes 1. 1 AY vulgaris. 
Leaves silvery shining underneath, deeply palmate : : . 2. A. alpewna. 
Small annual. Flowers minute, in sessile axillary heads . : . 3. A. arvensis. 
1. A. vulgaris, Linn. (fig. 323). Zady’s-mantle.—A perennial, 
either glabrous or more or less hairy, but always green, not silvery. 
- Radical leaves large, on long stalks, broadly orbicular or reniform, 
divided only to a fourth or a third of their depth into 7 or 9 broad, 
regularly toothed lobes. Flowering-stems decumbent or ascending, 
seldom above 6 inches high, bearing a few small leaves on short stalks, 
with large, green, toothed stipules, and a loose panicle of small, green 
flowers, each borne on a little pedicel, generally at least as long as the 
tube of the calyx. 
In meadows and pastures, in northern and Arctic Kurope and Asia, 
becoming more restricted to mountain-ranges in central and southern» 
Hurope and central Asia. Generally distributed over Britain, but 
scarce in south-eastern England. Fl. spring and summer. [A. hybrida, 
Mill. (montana, Willd.), is a dwarf mountain form with very silky or 
pubescent leaves. ] 
