The rose has for ages been a favorite plant for ornament.
About 50 species have been described, and cultivation has produced
numerous varieties. More than 500 varieties and species
are contained in the London catalogues, and, at Rouen, nearly
double this number is enumerated. Loudon. Doubtless far more
than those above mentioned are found in the more expensive
flower-gardens in this State.
The flowers of the rose, or of several species, are valuable in
medicine. For this purpose, the abundant flowers of the cinnamon
rose, and of others, are picked. Of this species, about thirty
varieties are sold in Europe. Rose-water is a well known preparation.
The Rubifolia from Canada and the Lakes, and the
Cherokee from the South, are amongst the most desirable native
species now cultivated. The Boursault, the multijlora, the
JBanksce, the Lamarck, are among the most beautiful European;
and there are numerous varieties introduced from China, Rosa
Indica, which have added much to the value of a family already
so rich.
P otentilla. L. 11. 12-
P. tridentata. L. A small, rather beautiful species of
cinquefoil; stem 3—8 inches high, nearly erect, dichotomous;
leaves ternate-palmate, thick and leathery, with obovate leafets,
3-toothed at the summit ; flowers white, small; grows on Wa-
chusett and Hoosac Mountains. The bald summit of Taconic
Mount is covered for a considerable distance with it. It is found
also in the valley near the College in Williamstown, probably
from seed brought down from the mountain.
P. Norvegica. L. Hirsute, erect, dichotomous, 8 - 1 6
inches high, with leaves shaped like the preceding, but toothed,
and rough-haired, and yellow-flowered; blossoms in June, in
old fields.
P. Canadensis. L. Five-finger. Spread over the fields,
with a stem often procumbent and running, sometimes ere c t; resembles
the strawberry at a little distance ; leaves quinate-palmate ;
yellow flowers ; blossoms from April to July.
P. argentea. L. Silvery Cinquefoil. A handsome, erect,
white-tomentose, silvery-looking plant, near a foot high ; leaves
quinate-palmate, obovate, revolute on the margin ; flowers yellow ;
June, in fields.
P. simplex. Mx. Running Cinquefoil. Is also P . sarmentosa,
Willd., and has a running stem and hairy, with quinate leaves, and
yellow flowery ; spread over fields, and much like P. Canadensis.
P. anserina. L. Silver Weed. Creeps among the grass by
its hairy reddish stem, with pinnate leafets, of a fine silvery appearance
beneath, and solitary yellow flowers on long peduncles ;
blossoms in June, and grows on salt marshes near Boston.
P. fruticosa. L ., and P. floribunda;, Ph. Woody Cinquefoil.
Mere varieties of the same plant; woody, branching,
often 4 feet high, sometimes much less ; yellow terminal flowers
of long continuance ; pinnate leaves ; blooms in June ; grows on
the margin of ponds in marshy situations, and on cold upland
tracts. A handsome shrub, and mentioned here with most of the
herbaceous species.
P. confertijlora, Torrey, or B ootia sylvestris, Big. Stem 2
feet high, erect, stiff, round, furrowed, with upper leaves simple
or ternate, and radical leaves pinnate ; petals white, roundish, and
flowers partially corymbed ; blossoms in June ; whole plant
covered with hairy down ; found at Deerfield, and in Berkshire
County.
P. palustris: Scop. Marsh Cinquefoil. Known commonly
as Comarum palustre, L ., has a stem 18 inches high, ascending,
but not erect, with leaves divided into 3, 5, or 7 leafets,
oblong, serrate, and whitish beneath ; flowers in June. I found
it near a pond-hole in Stockbridge, half a mile north of the
church ; found also near Boston.
Note. Cinquefoil, of French origin, is five-leafed; and, when
finger-like leafets appear, it is called five-finger.