POTENT IL LA tridentata.
Trifid-leaved Cinquefoil.
ICOSANDRIA Polygyria.
Gen. Char. Cal. in 10 segments. Petals 5. Seeds
roundish, naked, generally wrinkled, affixed to a
small dry receptacle.
Spec. Char. Leaves ternate, wedge-shaped ; smooth
above ; hairy beneath ; three-toothed at the summit.
S y n . Potentilla tridentata. Soland. in Ait. Hort.
Kew. ed. 1. v. 2 . 2 1 6 . t. 9 . cd. 2 . v. 3> 2 7 9 . Sm.
lh\ o f Linn. Soc. v. 1 0 . 3 4 3 .
m
JL H IS wild specimen was gathered on a mountain called Wer-
ron in Angusshire b y Mr. Geo. Don , the only person who, to
onr knowledge, has observed the present species in Britain ; it
h a v in g heretofore been noticed in Newfoundland o n ly ; for the
P. retina o f R e lzius, figured in FI. D an . t. 7 9 9 , ha v in g hairy
leaves and yellow flowers, must be sp ecifically distinct.
Our tridentata, ju s tly reckoned b y Mr. Don among the
most beautiful o f its g enus, is perennial, and flowers in the
spring. T h e roots are creeping and rather w o od y , throwing
u p several annual stems, three or four inches h ig h . T h e leaves
grow chiefly about the lower part o f each stem, on footstalks,
tern a te ; the leaflets wedge-shaped, somewhat elliptical, entire,
e x c ep t at the extremity, where th ey have three te e th ; their
u p per surface is smooth, lower whitish and rather hairy. Sti-
pu las fingered. Flowers few, at the end o f the stem and
branches, white, with purplish stamens, and hairy germens,
stalks, and c a ly x ,