ROSACEA. 



255 



larged, rather spongy receptacle, on which account this plant is often 

 considered as forming a distinct genus, under the name of Comarum. 



In marshes, peat-bogs, and wet places, in northern and central Eu- 

 rope, Asia, and a portion of North America, penetrating far into the 

 Arctic regions. Widely distributed over Britain, but rare in the 

 south of England. Fl. summer. 



VIII. SZBBAIiDIA. SIBBALDIA. 



Habit and characters of Potentil, except that the number of sta- 

 mens and carpels is reduced below 10, generally from 5 to 7. The 

 genus consists but of very few species, small alpine plants, inhabiting 

 the great mountain-ranges both of the new and the old world. 



1. Procumbent Sibbaldia. Sibbaldia procumbens, Linn. 



(Eig. 316.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 897.) 



The perennial stock forms a short, 

 dense, spreading tuft. Leafstalks sel- 

 dom above 6 lines long, with 3 obovate 

 or wedge-shaped leaflets, 3-toothed at 

 the end, green, and more or less hairy 

 on both sides. Elower-stems f to 1\ 

 inches long, almost leafless, bearing a 

 cyme of small flowers, of which the green 

 calyxes are the most conspicuous, the 

 petals being very small and of a pale- 

 yellow, or occasionally wanting. The 

 lobes of the calyx often close over the 

 carpels after flowering, but the latter are not enclosed within the 

 tube as in AlcJiemil. 



'In the mountains of northern and Arctic Europe, Asia, and America, 

 or, at greater elevations, in the higher ranges of central Europe and 

 Asia. Erequent in the Scotch Highlands, constituting in some places a 

 considerable portion of the greensward, but unknown in England or 

 Ireland. Fl. summer. 



Fig. 316. 



