Hills "and dry banks of streams, Canada! (from lat. 65°, Richardson) to
Pennsylvania! Illinois ! Missouri! and west to the Rocky Mountains in lat.
42°, Dr. James ; June-July. Stem mostly simple 1-2 and often 3-4 feet
high, stout, clothed with a soft brownish pubescence, which is glutinous when
young. Flowers aggregated in usually dense clusters at the extremity of the
dichotomous branches of the cyme ; the alar flowers on rather slender pedicels.
—The petals are white or oehroleucous, not yellow as is sometimes stated.
The figure of Hooker is excellent, except that it does not well represent the
disk of our plant. It better represents that of the very nearly allied P.
glandulosa, to which the Oregon plant cited in that work belongs. This species
varies greatly in size.
34. P. fissa (Nutt.! mss.): “ viscidly pubescent; stem erect, branching,
leafy; leaves pinnately 9-11-foliolate, on short petioles; leaflets unequal,
roundish or oval, deeply incised or incisely toothed, the teeth entire; stipules
entire or toothed; flowers rather crowded; segments of the calyx ovate,
acute, shorter than the roundish (sulphur-yellow) petals.”
0- major: larger in all its parts; flowers more crowded.—P . arguta, Nutt. !
in jour. acad. Philad. 7. p. 21, not of Pursh. P. glutinosa, Nutt. ! mss.
Plains of the Rocky Mountains towards the Oregon, Nuttall! July.
j3. Head waters of the Oregon, Capt. Wyeth!—“ Stem about a span high.
Leaflets small, the lower ones roundish ; those of the upper cauline leaves
ovate. External sepals much smaller, often toothed. Flowers rather large.”
Nutt.—The plant which we have joined as a variety of this species seems to
be a larger plant, and bears more resemblance to P. arguta.
35. P . glandulosa (Lindl.): stem erect, branched above, villous-pubescent,
viscid towards the summit, as also the peduncles and calyx ; radical
leaves pinnately 5-9-foliolate ; leaflets ovate or roundish, those of the nearly
sessile cauline leaves obovate or oblong, all deeply and usually doubly serrate
toothed and often incised ; stipules mostly entire; branches of the cyme
elongated and rather loosely-flowered ; segments of the calyx ovate, acute,
as long as the broadly oval (yellow) petals.—Lindl.! hot. reg. 1.1583;
Hook. if A m .! hot. Beechey, suppl. p. 338. P. Oregana, Nutt.mss. P.
arguta, Hook. jl. Bor.-Am. partly.-
0. ineisa (Lindl.) : leaflets incised; petals longer than the calyx.—Lindl.
hot. reg. t. 1973.
Oregon and California, Douglas ! Nuttall!—Flowers about half the size
of those of P. arguta; the stem more slender and branching. The stamini-
ferous disk is conspicuous, but not glandular.
X Doubtful or little-known Species.
36. P. emarginata (Pursh) : assurgent, hirsute ; stipules ovate, entire ;
leaves trifbliolate ; leaflets sessile, approximate, incisely toothed, hirsute on
both sides ; pedicels few, terminal,''elongated, 1-flowered ; petals cuneate-
oblong, emarginate, twice the length of the calyx. Pursh, fl. 1. p. 353.
Labrador, Kohlmeister.—A small species. Flowers large in proportion.
Pursh.—This species has not been identified. It may be, as Hooker suggests,
the P. nana of Lehmann, which Hooker found among the plants collected by
Kohlmeister. But E. Meyer (pi. Labrad. p. 74) has described under this
name a plant apparently different from P. nana. 37
37. P. dissecta (Pursh): erect, branched, rather glabrous; leaves digi-
tately 5-foliolate ; leaflets pinnatifid ; the lobes entire, acute ; flowers terminal,
somewhat corymbose. Pursh, fl. 1. p. 355.
Near Hudson’s Bay. Perennial.—Described by Pursh from a specimen
in the Banksian herbarium.
38. P . pentandra (Engejmann, m ss.): hirsute; stem erect (3-4 feet high);
lower leaves palmately 5-foliolate, on long petioles; the upper leaves 3-folio-
late, on short petioles; leaflets oblanceolate, obtuse, cuneate at the base
coarsely and often doubly toothed, pubescent beneath, hairy above ; stipules
lanceolate, acute, incisely toothed ; flowers (very small) in large dichotomous
cymes; peduncles filiform, hirsute ; segments of the calyx longer than
the spatulate (pale yellow) petals, and shorter than the bracteolar segments ;
stamens 5—6; achenia very small, smooth.
Shady moist places, near Fort Gibson, Arkansas. June.—This species
we have not seen: the description is furnished by Dr. Engelmann. The
habit of the plant is said to be like P. recta, but the flowers more like P.
supina.
21. COMARUM. Linn. gen. p. 257 ; Lam. ill. t. 444.
Calyx flat, deeply 5- (rarely 6-7-) cleft, colored within, with as many
much smaller alternate deflexed bracteoles. Petals 5, ovate-lanceolate, acute
or acuminate, very small, somewhat persistent. Stamens numerous, inserted
into the thickened and hairy slightly lobed disk which lines the bottom of
the calyx: filaments subulate, persistent. Achenia aggregated on the convex,
at length very large and fleshy or spongy, hairy persistent receptacle: styles
filiform, at length deciduous, inserted below the apex of the ovary: stigmas
simple. Seed inserted next the insertion of the style, pendulous. Radicle
superior— A perennial herb, creeping at the base, with pinnate leaves.
Stipules of the lower leaves scarious and wholly adnate to the petiole. P e tals,
stamens, and styles, as well as the upper side of the sepals, dark
purple.
C.palustre (Linn.!)—Fl. Dan. t. 636; Michx.!fl.. 1. p. 302; Engl. hot.
d -17^ ’< P, arsk ' A" 1'P - 156 > Richards. ! appx. Frankl. journ. ed. 2. p. 21 •
Bigel.! Jl. Bost. ed. 2. p. 203. Potentilla palustris, Scopoli, Jl. Cam. (ed.
2.) 1. p. 359 ; Lehm. ! Pot. p. 52 ; Torr. ! Jl. 1. p. 498; DC. ' vrodr 2*
P- TS83 ; Hook, ƒ fl. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 187. P. Comaram, Nestl. ^
In sphagnous swamps, Northern States! and Canada! Labrador ' and
Greenland ! to the Arctic Circle, Kotzebue’s Sound ! &c. June-July— Root
astringent. Stems 1-2 feet high. Leaflets 5-7, crowded, lanceolate-oblong
mostly obtuse, minutely silky. Flowers large. Segments of the calyx
ovate, acuminate. Achenia glabrous.—Marsh Cinque-foil. J
22. FRAG ARIA. Tourn. ; Linn. gen. p. 255.
Calyx, corolla, and stamens the same as in Potentilla. Achenia dry, scattered
on the enlarged succulent or pulpy receptacle, which at length often
separates from the conical central portion of the torus : styles deeply lateral,
attenuate at the insertion, rather thickened upwards: stigma depressed. Seed
inserted next the base of thé style, amphitropous, ascending. Radicle supe-
tioi- Perennial stoloniferous herbs, with trifoliolate leaves; the leaflets
coarsely toothed. Scapes cymosely several-flowered. Petals (mostly)
white. Receptacle red, or whitish ; when ripe, edible— Strawberry.
■ 1,‘ FJ VirS iniana (Ehrh.): fruit roundish-ovoid; the achenia imbedded
m the deeply pitted receptacle ; calyx spreading in fruit; peduncles com