The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States. Asa Gray
glabrous conical or hemispherical fruiting receptacle (not sunk in pits); calyx remaining spreading or reflexed; hairs on the scape mostly widely spreading, on the pedicels appressed; leaflets thin, even the upper face strongly marked by the veins.—Fields and rocky places; less common. (Eu.)
F. Índica, L., differing from the true strawberries in having leafy runners, a calyx with incised leafy bractlets larger than the sepals, yellow petals, and insipid fruit, has become somewhat established near Philadelphia and in the S. States; an escape from cultivation. Flowers and fruit produced through the summer and autumn. (Adv. from India.)
10. POTENTÍLLA, L. Cinque-foil. Five-finger.
Calyx flat, deeply 5-cleft, with as many bractlets at the sinuses, thus appearing 10-cleft. Petals 5, usually roundish. Stamens many. Achenes many, collected in a head on the dry mostly pubescent or hairy receptacle; styles lateral or terminal, deciduous. Radicle superior.—Herbs, or rarely shrubs, with compound leaves, and solitary or cymose flowers; their parts rarely in fours. (Name a diminutive from potens, powerful, originally applied to P. Anserina, from its once reputed medicinal powers.)
§ 1. Styles thickened and glandular toward the base; achenes glabrous, numerous; inflorescence cymose.
[*] Style nearly basal; stamens 25–30; perennial glandular-villous herbs, with pinnate leaves, and rather large white or yellow flowers.
1. P. argùta, Pursh. Stems erect, usually stout (1–4° high), brownish-hairy, clammy above; leaflets 7–11, oval or ovate, cut-serrate, downy beneath; cyme strict and rather close; stamens mostly 30, on a thick glandular disk.—Rocky hills, N. Brunswick to N. J., Minn., Kan., and westward.
[*][*] Style terminal; flowers small, yellow; leaves pinnate or ternate.
[+] Annual or biennial; leaflets incisely serrate, not white-tomentose; stamens 5–20.
2. P. Norvégica, L. Stout, erect, hirsute (½–2° high); leaves ternate; leaflets obovate or oblong-lanceolate; cyme rather close, leafy; calyx large; stamens 15 (rarely 20).—Lab. to N. J., west to Minn. and Kan. (Eu.)
3. P. rivàlis, Nutt. More slender and branched, softly villous; leaves pinnate, with two pairs of closely approximate leaflets, or a single pair and the terminal leaflet 3-parted; leaflets cuneate-obovate or -oblong; cyme loose, often diffuse, less leafy; calyx small; petals minute; stamens 10–20 (rarely 5).—Neb. to Mo. and N. Mex., and westward.
Var. millegràna, Watson. Leaves all ternate; stems erect, or weak and ascending; achenes often small and light-colored.—Minn. to Mo., N. Mex., and westward.
Var. pentándra, Watson. Leaves ternate, the lateral leaflets of the lower leaves parted nearly to the base; stamens 5, opposite to the sepals.—Iowa, Mo., and Ark.
4. P. supìna, L. Stems decumbent at base or erect, often stout, leafy, subvillous; leaflets pinnately 5–11, obovate or oblong; cyme loose, leafy; stamens 20; achenes strongly gibbous on the ventral side. (P. paradoxa, Nutt.)—Minn. to Mo., and westward; also eastward along the Great Lakes.—Var. Nicollétii, Watson. Slender; leaflets mostly but 3; inflorescence much elongated, leafy, and falsely racemose.—Devil's Lake, Minn.
[+][+] Herbaceous perennials, more or less white-tomentose; leaflets incisely pinnatifid; bractlets and sepals nearly equal; stamens 20–25.
5. P. Pennsylvánica, L. Stems erect or decumbent at base (½–2° high); leaflets 5–9, white-tomentose beneath, short-pubescent and greener above, oblong, obtuse, the linear segments slightly or not at all revolute; cyme fastigiate but rather open.—Coast of Maine, N. H., and the lower St. Lawrence, L. Superior, and westward. July, Aug.—Var. strigòsa, Lehm. Stems 6–12´ high; silky-tomentose throughout; leaflets deeply pinnatifid, the margins of the narrow lobes revolute; cyme short and close.—Minn. and westward.
§ 2. Styles filiform, not glandular at base; inflorescence cymose.
[*] Style terminal; achenes glabrous; stamens 20; herbaceous perennials, with rather large yellow flowers.
[+] Leaves pinnate.
6. P. Hippiàna, Lehm. Densely white-tomentose and silky throughout, the upper surface of the leaves a little darker; stems ascending (1–1½° high), slender, branching above into a diffuse cyme; leaflets 5–11, cuneate-oblong, incisely toothed at least toward the apex, diminishing uniformly down the petiole; carpels 10–30.—N. W. Minn., and westward.
7. P. effùsa, Dougl. Tomentose throughout, with scattered villous hairs; stems ascending (4–12´ high), diffusely branched above; leaflets 5–11, interruptedly pinnate, the alternate ones smaller, cuneate-oblong, coarsely-incised-serrate or dentate; carpels 10.—W. Minn. to Mont. and Col.
[+][+] Leaves palmate, of 3 or 5 leaflets; tomentose or villous.
8. P. argéntea, L. (Silvery Cinque-foil.) Stems ascending, paniculately branched at the summit, many-flowered, white-woolly; leaflets 5, wedge-oblong, almost pinnatifid, entire toward the base, with revolute margins, green above, white with silvery wool beneath.—Dry barren fields, etc., N. Scotia to N. J., west to Dak. and E. Kan. June–Sept. (Eu.)
9. P. frígida, Vill. Dwarf (1–3' high), tufted, villous when young; leaflets 3, broadly cuneate-obovate, deeply 3–5-toothed at summit, nearly glabrous above; flowers mostly solitary, small, on very slender stems; bractlets and sepals equal.—Alpine summits of the White Mts. (Eu.)
[*][*] Style lateral; purple petals (shorter than the broad calyx) somewhat persistent; disk thick and hairy; achenes glabrous; hairy receptacle becoming large and spongy.
10. P. palústris, Scop. (Marsh Five-Finger.) Stems stout, ascending from a decumbent rooting perennial base (½–2° long), glabrous below; leaves pinnate; leaflets 5–7, oblong, serrate, lighter colored and more or less pubescent beneath; flowers few in an open cyme; calyx (1´ broad) dark purple inside.—Cool bogs, N. J. to N. Ind., Ill., Minn., and northward. (Eu.)
[*][*][*] Style attached below the middle; achenes and receptacle densely villous; woody perennials.
11. P. fruticòsa, L. (Shrubby Cinque-foil.) Stem erect, shrubby (1–4° high), much branched; leaves pinnate, leaflets 5–7, crowded, oblong-lanceolate, entire, silky, usually whiter beneath and the margins revolute; petals yellow, orbicular.—Wet grounds, Lab. to N. J., west to Minn., northern Iowa, and north and westward. June–Sept. (Eu.)
12. P. tridentàta, Ait. (Three-toothed C.) Stems low (1–10´ high), rather woody at base, tufted, ascending, cymosely several-flowered; leaves palmate; leaflets 3, wedge-oblong, nearly smooth, thick, coarsely 3-toothed at the apex; petals white; achenes and receptacle very hairy.—Coast of N. Eng. from Cape Cod northward, Norfolk, Ct. (Barbour), and mountain-tops of the Alleghanies; also shores of the upper Great Lakes, and N. Iowa, Wisc., and Minn.
§ 3. Styles filiform, lateral; peduncles axillary, solitary, 1-flowered; achenes glabrous; receptacle very villous; herbaceous perennials, with yellow flowers.
13. P. Anserìna, L. (Silver-Weed.) Spreading by slender many-jointed runners, white-tomentose and silky-villous; leaves all radical, pinnate; leaflets 7–21, with smaller ones interposed, oblong, sharply serrate, silky tomentose at least beneath; bractlets and stipules often incisely cleft; peduncles elongated.—Brackish marshes, river-banks, etc., New Eng. to N. J., N. Ind., Minn., and northward. (Eu.)
14. P. Canadénsis, L. (Common Cinque-foil or Five-Finger.) Stems slender and decumbent or prostrate, or sometimes erect; pubescence villous, often scanty; leaves ternate, but apparently quinate by the parting of the lateral leaflets; leaflets cuneate-oblong or -obovate, incisely serrate, nearly glabrous above;