122 



WEEDS AND USEFUL PLANTS. 



06.5. The root of tlie Water Avens is tonic and powerfully astrin- 

 gent, and is used as a popular remedy in diarrhoea, dyspepsia, &c. A 

 decoction is made and taken with sugar and milk in the same manner as 

 coffee. * 



6. POTENTIL'LA, L. Cinquefoil. 



[Latin, jjotens, powerful ; in reference to supposed medical properties.] 



Calyx 5-cleft, with an external bract at each cleft, thus appearing 10- 

 cleft. Petals mostly 5. Stamens numerous. Style lateral or terminal, 

 deciduous. Akenes numerous, often rugose, capitate on a dry persistent 

 villous receptacle. Seed suspended ; radicle always superior. Herbace- 

 ous or suffruticose. Leaves pinnately or palmately compound. 



1. P. Norve'gica, L. Hirsute ; stem erect, dichotomous above ; leaves 

 palmately S-folioTate, the cauline ones on short petioles ; leaflets obovate- 

 oblong, the uppermost lanceolate, coarsely and ineisely serrate ; pedun- 

 cles axillary, cymose at summit and leafy ; petals shorter than the 

 calyx ; akenes rugosely ribbed or striate. 



Norwegian Potentilla. 



Root annual. Stem 1-2 feet high, rather stout. Leaflets 1-3 inches long; common 

 petioles 1-4 inches long ; stipules large (often an inch or more in length) . Flowers often 

 numerous, in leafy cymes at summit, and on long solitarj^ peduncles below — the lower 

 peduncles often opposite the leaves. Petals j^ellow. 



• Pastures and roadsides : Northern States. Native of Lapland, Norway, and Northern 

 America. Fl. July -August. Fr. September. 



Ohs. This is said to be a native in the Northern States, and British 

 America, — but it has very much the appearance of an introduced plant, 

 — and has not yet, so far as I know, acquired a common name. It is 

 only entitled to the notice of the farmer, as being a coarse, homely, 

 worthless intruder in his pasture fields. 



2. P. Canaden'sis, L. Villous ; stems procumbent and ascending ; 

 leaves palmately 5-foliolate ; leaflets cuneate-obovate, ineisely serrate- 

 dentate near the apex ; peduncles axillary, solitary, elongated ; petals 

 longer than the calyx ; akenes somewhat rugose. 



Canadian Potentilla. Cinquefoil. Five-finger. 



Root perennial. Sf^m 2 or 3-12 and 18 inches long, slender, somewhat branched, often 

 several from the same root. Radical leaves on petioles 2-6 or 8 inches long ; stem leaves 

 nearly se.«sile : leaflets half an inch to 1-2 inches long. Peduncles about as long as the 

 leaves. Petals yellow. 



Old neglected" fields ; borders of woodlands, &c. Canada to Georgia. Fl. April- June. 

 Fr. June -August. 



Ohs. The P. simplex, of authors, is no doubt properly regarded as only 

 a variety of this. Both varieties are rather harmless, though worthless ; 

 and are merely indicative of a poor soil, or a thriftless farmer. Some 

 lands, when kept as pasture fields, seem to have an almost incurable 

 tendency to lose the valuable Grasses, and to become speedily overrun 



