260 



THE ROSE FAMILY. 



XII. AGRIMONY. AGR1MONIA. 



Herbs, with a perennial stock, erect stems, pinnate leaves with dis- 

 tinct segments or leaflets, and yellow flowers in long, terminal, simple, 

 loose spikes. Calyx 5-toothecl. Petals 5. Stamens few. Carpels 

 usually 2, enclosed within the dry, persistent calyx, which is covered, 

 when ripe, with hooked bristles. 



The genus comprises but very few European, north Asiatic, and 

 North American species, easily known by their inflorescence, as well as 

 by their fruit. ♦ 



1. Common Agrimony. Agrimonia Eupatoria, Linn. 



(Fig. 322.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 1335. A. odorata, Brit. El.) 



Stems 2 or 3 feet high, more or less 

 clothed, as well as the leaves, with soft 

 hairs. Lower leaves often 6 inches long, 

 with from 5 to 9 distinct, ovate, coarsely 

 toothed leaflets, about an inch long, in- 

 termixed with a number of much smaller 

 ones ; the upper leaves gradually smaller, 

 with fewer leaflets. Spike long and leaf- 

 less, but each flower in the axil of a small 

 3-cleft bract, with two smaller 3-toothed 

 bracteoles on the very short pedicel. Tube 

 of the calyx hairy and erect when in 

 flower, turned downwards after flowering, 

 when it becomes thickly covered at the 

 top with hooked, green or reddish bris- 

 tles, forming a small burr. Petals rather 

 small, oblong. Stamens short, often not 

 more than 6 or 7, but sometimes twice 

 that number. 

 On roadsides, waste places, borders of fields, etc., over nearly the 

 whole of Europe, .Russian Asia, and North America, but not an Arctic 

 plant. Frequent in England and Ireland, but becoming scarce be- 

 yond the Clyde and Forth in Scotland. Fl. all summer. It varies 

 considerably in the hairiness of the foliage, in the size of the flowers, 

 and in the form of the ripe calyx, which is more or less contracted at 

 the base, from ob conical to campanulate ; and from this character two 

 European species have been distinguished, but the differences do not 

 appear constant enough to separate them even as marked varieties. 



Fig. 322. 



