250 



THE ROSE FAMILY. 



receptacle does not swell or become suc- 

 culent as the fruit ripens. The stem it- 

 self is also often shortly creeping, either 

 under or above ground, and the flower- 

 ing branches are less erect than in the 

 Straivberry ; the petals usually smaller, 

 although variable, sometimes narrow 

 and scarcely so long as the calyx, some- 

 times nearly as large as in the common 

 wild Strawberry. 



On banks, dry pastures, and in open 

 woods, in western and central Europe, 

 extending northward to south Sweden, 

 and eastward to the Crimea and the 



Caucasus. Abundant in England, Ireland, and southern Scotland, but 



becoming rare in the Highlands. FL early spring. 



2. Creeping Potentil. Potentilla reptans, Linn. 

 (Fig. 308.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 862. Cinquefoil.) 



Stock seldom much tufted, with slen- 

 der, prostrate stems, often rooting at the 

 nodes, and sometimes extending to a 

 considerable length. Stipules ovate, 

 mostly entire. Leaves all stalked, with 

 5 obovate or oblong, coarsely toothed 

 leaflets. Flowers single, on long pe- 

 duncles, apparently axillary, or rarely 

 forming a loose, terminal cyme, as in the 

 Tormentil P. Petals large and yellow, 

 mostly 5, but occasionally only 4. 



In rich pastures, borders of meadows, 

 edges of woods, and hedges, throughout 

 Europe and Russian Asia, except the 

 extreme north. Abundant in England 

 and Ireland, but decreasing much in 

 Scotland. Fl. summer and autumn. Much as the common form of 

 this species differs from the following one, it is by some supposed to 

 be a mere variety, and certainly the procumbent variety of the true 

 Tormentil appears to be intermediate between the two. 



Fig. 308. 



