P O T E N T I L L A argentea.
Hoary Cinquefoil.
I C O S A N D R I A Polygyma•
Gen. Char. Calyx in ten fegments. Petals five. Seeds
roundifh, naked, affixed to a fmall dry receptacle.
Spec. Char. Leaflets five, wedge-fhaped, jagged,
downy beneath. Stem nearly erect.
Syn. Potentilla argentea. Linn. Sp. PI. 7 1 2 . Hudf.
FI. An. 2 2 3 . With. Bot. Arr. 5 3 2 . Relh. Cant. 1 9 7 .
Pentaphyllum eredtum, foliis profunde feftis, fubtus
argenteis, flore luteo. Rail Syn. 2 5 5 .
x 'hIS fpecies, though reckoned by Ray among our rarer
plants, is found in many parts of England in a gravelly foil,
and is faid to indicate clay under the furface (Rofe’s Botany,
382).
Its perennial root throws out many woody, round, half erect
Items, a foot or more in height, and producing alternate leaves,
whofe upper lides are green, the lower covered with fnow-
White cottony down, as are the calyx and upper part of the
Item, which laft is dichotomous, and aflumes the form of a
corymbus. The fmall bright yellow flowers appear in fuccef-
fion from June to autumn. No other Britifh Potentilla can be
confounded with this. Its form and habit much refemble the
Tormentilla, except in being far more woody. The pure white-
nefs of its leaves, like that of the white poplar, renders this
plant confpicuous whenever it is difturbed by wind or any other
accident, and diftinguifhes it fufficiently from all of the fame
tribe.