CXXIII.— THE MARSH CINQUEFOIL. 
Comariim palustre Linne. 
T he genus Poientilla when given its most comprehensive signification, as in 
Hooker’s “ Student’s Flora,” is divided into four Sections or Sub-genera, viz. 
Poientilla proper, with a concave floral receptacle, including the Silver-weed, the 
Tormentil, the Barren Strawberry, and six or more other British species ; 
Trichothalamus, shrubby, with a very hairy receptacle, including Poientilla fruticosa 
Linne, our only shrubby British Potenlilla ; Sibbaldia, with few stamens and carpels on 
a concave downy receptacle, including the Scottish alpine plant P. Sibbaldi Haller 
filius {Sibbaldia proctmbens Linne) ; and Comarum. Idnne’s genus Comarum, which we 
retain, though Hooker treated it merely as a Section of Poientilla, is mainly 
characterised by its enlarged, conical, spongy receptacle, which is downy and seems 
to approximate to that of the Strawberry, but is dry, not succulent, and does not 
fall off. Our one British species, Comarum palustre Linne, was named by Nestler 
Poientilla Comarum; but, if included under Poientilla, would by the present rules bear 
the iiame of P. palustris Scopoli. As for Linne’s generic name Comarum, it occurs 
in Theophrastus, or rather the Greek KOjxapo^, komaros, does so, and also in 
Aristophanes’s comedy “The Birds”; but this Greek name seems to have been 
applied to an Arbutus. It was chosen, however, for this herbaceous plant, no doubt, 
because, whilst the Arbutus is called from its fruit the Strawberry-tree, this species 
somewhat suggests the Strawberries in leaf, calyx, and fruit. It is, in fact, known as 
Bog Strawberry in the Isle of Man. 
Draining has, probably, rendered this plant less frequent nowadays than 
formerly ; and even where it does occur it is not generally very abundant. Though 
remarkable in colour, even more than in form, it is, perhaps, not a plant to attract 
much notice and has not received many popular names. With a reddish-brown or 
purple colour suffusing alike stem, leaves, and flowers, it was naturally one of the 
supposed remedies for “ the purples,” spots of extravasated blood produced in 
fever, and was accordingly known as Purplewort. William Coles in his quaint 
seventeenth-century “Art of Simpling” terms it “an excellent remedy” ; but the 
name is also given to a purple-leaved variety of the Dutch Clover {Trifolium repens 
Linne). The long woody rhizome is powerfully astringent, like that of the 
Tormentil, and has, for that reason, been used in tanning ; and it yields a red or 
dull yellow dye ; while the fruits of the plant are said to be known in some places, 
both in England and in Scotland, as Cow-berries, on account of their being used to rub 
the inside of milk-pails for the purpose of thickening the milk. As the rhizome is 
also stated to give a rich colour to milk, it may also be used for this purpose. In 
spite of its extreme astringency the rhizome is said to be eaten by boys in Ayrshire 
and to be there known in consequence as Meadow Nuts. 
