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HYDRANGEA FAMILY. Hydrangeaceae

Shrubs or trees, with opposite leaves and no stipules. The flowers are in clusters and usually perfect, but sometimes those at the margins of the clusters are without pistils or stamens and larger than those in the middle; the calyx usually with four to ten sepals, and in sterile flowers often conspicuously enlarged; the petals four to ten; the stamens eight to many; the ovary wholly or partly inferior; the styles separate or united, sometimes lacking; the fruit a capsule. Many very ornamental garden shrubs, such as Deutzia and Hydrangea, are included in this family.

There are several kinds of Fendlera, natives of North America; shrubs, with white or pink flowers, with four sepals and four petals, the latter with claws. The eight stamens have two-forked filaments and the ovary is partly inferior, with four styles.

Féndlera rupícola

White, pink

Spring

Ariz., Utah, Nev.

Among the many beautiful plants to be found in the Grand Canyon one of the most conspicuous is the Fendlera. It is a tall, handsome shrub, growing along the upper part of Bright Angel trail, and in May it is covered with charming white blossoms. These flowers measure an inch across, and have cream-white or pale pink petals, narrowing to a claw at the base, and purplish sepals, and they grow in clusters of three or four, mixed with pink buds, on the ends of short branches. The small oblong leaves have three nerves and the wood is tough and gray, with deeply furrowed bark. Though their scent is rather unpleasant, the flowers are lovely and look just like some novel variety of fruit-blossom, but this resemblance is deceptive for they produce nothing but dry pods.

There are a good many kinds of Philadelphus, natives of North America, Asia, and Europe; shrubs, with large, white or cream-colored flowers; the calyx top-shaped, with four or five lobes; the petals four or five; the stamens twenty to forty, inserted on a disk; the ovary inferior, with three to five styles; the capsule top-shaped, containing many oblong seeds. These plants were named in honor of King Ptolemy Philadelphus. They are often called Mock-Orange, because the flowers often resemble orange-blossoms. The commonest name, Syringa, is confusing, because that is the generic name of the Lilac.

Fendlera rupicola.

Syringa

Philadélphus Califórnicus

White

Summer

Cal., Oreg., Wash.

In June and July, in the high Sierras, up to an altitude of four thousand feet, this lovely shrub forms fragrant thickets of bloom. It looks very much like the familiar garden Syringa and the smell is just as delicious. The bush is from four to twelve feet high, with smooth, pale, woody stems, dark-green leaves, sometimes slightly toothed, very smooth and shiny, and pretty flowers, in clusters at the ends of the branches. They are each about an inch across, with four or five, cream-white petals, rolled in the bud, and a golden center, composed of numerous, bright-yellow stamens.

Small Syringa

Philadélphus microphýllus

White

Summer

Ariz., Cal., New Mex.

A small shrub, not nearly so handsome as the last, from two to three feet high, with slender, pale-gray, woody stems, branching very abruptly. The small leaves are smooth and very bright green on the upper side, but the under side is very pale and covered with close white down. The flowers are much smaller than the garden Syringa, with white petals and numerous yellow stamens, the calyx reddish outside and downy within, and have a delicious smell, like lemon-blossoms. This pretty little shrub may be found growing in small shady canyons, in northern Arizona and elsewhere in the Southwest.

Small Syringa – P. microphyllus.

Syringa Philadelphus Californicus.

GOOSEBERRY FAMILY. Grossulariaceae

A small family, shrubs, with alternate, palmately-lobed leaves, often sticky or resinous; the flowers almost always in clusters; the pedicels with a bract at the base and usually with two bractlets halfway up; petals five, or rarely four, usually smaller than the calyx-lobes; stamens of the same number as the petals and alternate with them; ovary inferior, with two styles, more or less united; fruit a berry, crowned with the withered remains of the flower.

There are several kinds of Grossularia, or Gooseberry; shrubs, sometimes with trailing branches, almost always spiny; flowers with bracts; ovary often spiny.

Wild Gooseberry

Grossulària Roèzli (Ribes)

Maroon and white

Spring

California

This is a stout shrub, one to four feet high, with thick, short, rigid little branches, the knobby joints more or less spiny. The roundish leaves, less than an inch across, are lobed and scalloped, rather dull green and slightly downy, and the flowers are about half an inch long, with maroon-colored sepals and white petals, the base of the calyx-tube downy. The purple berry is half an inch in diameter and covered with stout prickles. This Gooseberry is common at moderate altitudes. The drooping, red and white flowers resemble tiny Fuchsias, both in color and form. G. Menzièsii, the Canyon Gooseberry, also has pretty fuchsia-like flowers and grows in the Coast Ranges of California and Oregon, blooming in the winter.

Fuchsia-flowered Gooseberry

Grossulària speciòsa

Red

Spring

California

In spite of its name, the flowers of this handsome shrub do not look as much like Fuchsias as the two last. The stems are armed with long thorns and the leaves are thick, dark green, and glossy. The flowers have four sepals, four petals, and four stamens and are about an inch long and beautiful bright-red in color. The berry is dry and very prickly. This is common in the southern part of California.

Fuchsia-flowered Gooseberry – G. speciosa.

Wild Gooseberry – Grossularia Roezli.

There are many kinds of Ribes, or Currant, of temperate regions; shrubs, almost always smooth; flowers sometimes blooming before the leaves, with five petals, smaller than the five calyx-lobes, which are often colored; stamens five; ovary inferior, fruit a smooth, many-seeded berry. In general the low shrubs, with their pretty foliage, may be recognized by their resemblance to cultivated kinds. Ribes is the ancient Arabic name.

Black Currant

Rìbes Hudsoniànum

White

Spring, summer

Utah, Wash., Idaho, etc.

Except that its foliage has a strong disagreeable smell, this is an attractive shrub, three to six feet high, with pale gray, woody stems, without thorns, and smooth, bright green leaves, five-lobed and thin in texture, paler on the under side, with resinous dots and broad, papery stipules, in clusters, with reddish bracts at the base. The flowers form close, erect clusters, less than two inches long, springing from the same bud as the leaves; the calyx, which is the conspicuous part, cream-white, greenish in the center; the petals very small and white. The berry is smooth or hairy, round and black, without "bloom," and possibly edible, but so bad-smelling as to be avoided. This grows beside mountain streams and is found as far north as British Columbia.

Sierra Currant

Rìbes Nevadénse

Pink

Summer

Cal., Oreg., Wash., Nev.

A thrifty, mountain bush, from three to six feet high, the upper stems pale gray and the lower ones reddish; the leaves thin and smooth, prettily scalloped and lobed, often with a few white hairs at the base of the leaf-stalks. The flowers are fragrant and pink, over half an inch long, and form a close cluster, of eight or more. The berry is black, with a white "bloom," and tastes sweet and insipid. This reaches an altitude of eight thousand feet. Rìbes glutinòsum is called Incense-shrub, because of its strong fragrance. It is a large handsome shrub, sometimes fifteen feet high, with beautiful drooping clusters of gay pink flowers. The leaves are sticky when they first come out and the berry is blue, with a dense "bloom," bristly, dry and bitter, or insipid. This blooms in winter or early spring and is common in canyons near the coast.

Sierra Currant – Ribes Nevadense.

Black Currant – R. Hudsonianum.

Golden, Missourior Buffalo Currant

Rìbes àureum

Yellow

Spring, summer

West, etc.

A very handsome bush, from five to twelve feet high, with pretty foliage and smooth, pinkish-gray, woody stems. The bright green leaves, with three or five lobes, are thin in texture, with a few hairs on the leaf-stalks, fresh and glossy-looking, and setting off the bright clusters of clear yellow flowers, of which the calyx, half an inch across, with a long greenish-yellow tube, is the conspicuous part. The small petals are sometimes yellow, but often bright red and the fruit is smooth, yellow, red, or black, and edible. This is deliciously fragrant and spicy, very handsome and attractive, growing beside brooks and in moist canyons, where sometimes, in masses, it has at a distance the effect of Forsythia, but purer in color. It grows as far east as Missouri and is often cultivated.

APPLE FAMILY. Pomaceae

A rather large family, widely distributed, including many attractive trees and shrubs, such as Mountain Ash and Hawthorn, as well as Pears and Apples, with pretty blossoms and conspicuous, often edible fruits; leaves alternate; stipules small; flowers regular, perfect, single or in clusters; calyx usually five-toothed or five-lobed; petals mostly five, usually with claws; stamens numerous, or rarely few, separate, with small anthers; ovary inferior and compound; styles one to five. The calyx-tube gradually thickens and becomes a "pome," or apple-like fruit, in which the core is the ovary.

There are several kinds of Amelanchier, of the north temperate zone; shrubs or trees, with thornless branches and white flowers, usually in clusters; calyx-tube bell-shaped, with five narrow sepals; petals five; stamens numerous, on the throat of the calyx; styles two to five in number, united and hairy at base; ovary wholly or partly inferior; fruit small and berry-like. The name is from the French for the Medlar. These shrubs are called Shadbush in the East, because they bloom just when the shad are beginning to run in the rivers.

Golden Currant – Ribes aureum.

Service-berry, June-berry

Amelánchier alnifòlia

White

Spring, summer

West, etc.

A pretty shrub with woody, branching stems, reddish twigs and smooth, bright green leaves, sometimes downy on the under side, toothed only at the ends. The flowers, less than an inch across, have long, narrow, straggling petals, and are so mixed with leaves, and crowded so irregularly on the branches, that the effect is rather ragged. The roundish, pulpy, black fruit is liked by the Indians, but though sweet is insipid. When thickets of this shrub are in bloom on mountainsides the effect is very pretty, especially in Utah, where the shrubs are more compact and the flowers less straggling than in Yosemite, giving at a distance much the effect of Hawthorn. It grows as far east as Nebraska and in British Columbia.

PLUM FAMILY. Drupaceae

A rather small family, widely distributed, trees or shrubs, the bark exuding gum, the foliage, bark, and seeds bitter, containing prussic acid; leaves alternate, toothed, with leaf-stalks; stipules small; flowers mostly perfect, regular, single or in clusters; calyx five-lobed, dropping off after flowering; petals five, inserted on the calyx; stamens numerous, inserted with the petals; pistil one in our genera; ovary superior, developing into a stone-fruit.

There are many kinds of Prunus, including Cherry as well as Plum, with white or pink flowers and usually edible fruits. Prunus is the ancient Latin name for plum.

Holly-leaved Cherry, Islay

Prùnus ilicifòlia

White

Summer

California

Mountain slopes near Santa Barbara are beautiful in June with the creamy flowers of this very ornamental evergreen shrub, from five to twenty-five feet high, with shiny, leathery, dark green leaves, with prickly edges, looking much like Holly. The small flowers form close but feathery clusters, from one to three inches long, and smell pleasantly of honey. The sweetish fruit, not particularly good to eat, is a dark red cherry, about half an inch in diameter. In dry places these shrubs are small, but in favorable situations, such as the old mission gardens, where they have been growing for perhaps a hundred years, they develop into small trees.

Islay – Prunus ilicifolia.

Service-berry – Amelanchier alnifolia.

ROSE FAMILY. Rosaceae

A large and important family, widely distributed and including some of our loveliest flowers and most delicious fruits; herbs, shrubs, or trees; generally with stipules and usually with alternate leaves; the flowers rich in pollen and honey and usually perfect. The calyx usually five-lobed, often with bracts, with a disk adhering to its base; the petals of the same number as the calyx-lobes, separate or none; the stamens usually numerous, separate, with small anthers; the ovary superior, or partly inferior; the pistils few or many, separate or adhering to the calyx, sometimes, as in the true Rose, enclosed and concealed in a hollow receptacle; the fruit of various kinds and shapes.

There are several kinds of Opulaster, branching shrubs, with clusters of white flowers and grayish or reddish, shreddy bark.

Ninebark

Opuláster malvàceus

(Physocarpus)

White

Summer

Northwest, Utah, Ariz.

This is a handsome bush, from three to six feet high, with pretty, almost smooth, bright green leaves, with large stipules. The flowers are sweet-smelling, about half an inch across, with cream-white petals, and form very beautiful and conspicuous rounded clusters, about three inches across, the long stamens giving a very feathery appearance. At a distance this shrub has the effect of Hawthorn in the landscape. It grows on mountainsides in rich soil.

Apache Plume

Fallùgia paradóxa

White

Spring

Ariz., New Mex.

There are two kinds of Fallugia. This is usually a low undershrub, but in the Grand Canyon, on the plateau, it is a fine bush, four or five feet high, with pale woody, branching stems; the small, somewhat downy, evergreen leaves, resembling those of the Cliff Rose, but the flowers larger. They are white, two inches across, like a Wild Rose in shape, with beautiful golden centers, and grow on long, slender, downy flower-stalks, at the ends of the branches. Individually, they are handsomer than the flowers of the Cliff Rose, but not nearly so effective, as the bloom is much more scattered. The calyx-tube is downy inside and the five sepals alternate with five, small, long, narrow bractlets. The hairy pistils are on a small conical receptacle, surrounded by a triple row of very numerous stamens on the margin of the calyx-tube.

Ninebark – Opulaster malvaceus.

Wild Roses are widely distributed in the northern hemisphere and are too familiar to need much description. There are numerous kinds; some are climbing, all are prickly and thorny, with handsome, often fragrant, flowers and compound leaves, with toothed edges. The numerous yellow stamens are on the thick margin of a silky disk, which nearly closes the mouth of the calyx. The numerous pistils develop into akenes, or small, dry, one-seeded fruits. These look like seeds and we find them inside the calyx-tube, which in ripening enlarges and becomes round or urn-shaped. These swollen calyx-tubes are the "hips," which turn scarlet and add so much to the beauty of the rose-bush when the flowers are gone. Rosa is the ancient Latin name.

Fendler's Rose

Ròsa Féndleri

Pink

Spring, summer

Idaho, Utah, Ariz.

This is a very handsome thrifty bush, about four feet high, with smooth, or slightly downy, bright green leaves, and thorny stems, with slightly curved thorns. The flowers are more or less fragrant and about two inches across, with bright pink petals, which gradually become paler as they fade, and pretty crimson-tipped buds. This has smooth "hips" and is a beautiful and conspicuous kind, growing in valleys and along streams, up to an altitude of nine thousand feet. It is widely distributed and variable, probably including several forms.

California Wild Rose

Ròsa Califórnica

Pink

Spring, summer, autumn

Cal., Oreg.

A large bush, three to six feet high, with erect, branching stems, armed with a few, stout thorns, which turn back. The leaves are more or less downy, especially on the under side, with from three to seven leaflets, and the flowers usually form a cluster of few or many and are each from one to nearly two inches across, with pale pink petals. They are lovely flowers, with a delicious fragrance, and are common at low and moderate altitudes in California, usually growing near streams.

Rosa Fendleri.

California Wild Rose – R. Californíca.

Redwood Rose

Ròsa gymnocàrpa

Pink

Spring, summer

Northwest

A charming kind, delicate both in foliage and flower, usually growing in shady, mountain woods. The slender bush is from one to three feet high, with dark brown stems, armed with some straight, slender thorns, and light green leaves, usually with quite a number of neat little leaflets, smooth and thin in texture. The flowers are an inch or less across, usually single, with light yellow centers and bright pink petals, very clean and fresh in tone, usually deeper towards the margins. The sepals are not leafy at the tips, the flower-stalks, and sometimes the leaf-stalks also, are covered with small, dark, sticky hairs and the buds are tipped with carmine. Neither leaves nor flowers are fragrant.

Mountain Misery

Chamaebàtia foliolòsa

White

Summer

California

This is the only kind. In open places, in the Sierra forests, the ground is often carpeted for acres with the feathery foliage of this charming shrub, sprinkled all over with pretty white flowers. Mountain Misery does not at first seem an appropriate name for so attractive a plant, but when we walk through the low, green thickets we find not only that the tangled branches catch our feet but that the whole plant is covered with a strong-smelling, resinous substance, which comes off on our clothes in a most disagreeable manner. On a warm day the forest is filled with the peculiar, medicinal fragrance and when, later in the season, we unpack our camping outfit we are apt to be puzzled by the smell of "Pond's Extract" which our clothes exhale. The shrub is usually less than two feet high, with downy, evergreen foliage, the numerous small leaflets so minutely subdivided and scalloped that they have the appearance of soft ferns. The flowers resemble large strawberry-blossoms, and have a top-shaped, five-lobed calyx, many yellow stamens and one pistil, becoming a large, leathery akene. The smell and foliage attract attention and the shrub has many names, such as Bear-mat and Kittikit, or Kit-kit-dizze, so-called by the Indians. Bears do not eat it, so the name Bear-clover is poor, and Tarweed belongs to another plant. It is used medicinally.

Redwood Rose – Rosa gymnocarpa.

Mountain Misery – Chamaebatia foliolosa.

This is the only kind of Stellariopsis; perennial herbs; the leaves with many, minute, crowded, overlapping leaflets; the flowers white, in open clusters; bractlets, sepals, and petals five; stamens fifteen; pistil one, surrounded by bristles.

Pussy-tails

Stellariópsis santolinoìdes

(Ivesia)

White

Summer

California

The leaves of this odd little plant look like catkins, or the sleek, gray tails of some little animal. They are cylindrical in form, three or four inches long, composed of many minute leaflets, crowded closely around a long, central stem. These little leaflets, hardly more than green scales, are smothered with soft, white down, which gives the whole "tail" a silky, silvery-gray appearance. From the midst of a bunch of these curious leaves, which are mostly from the root, spring several very slender stems, widely branching above, from six to twelve inches tall, and at the ends of the branches are airy clusters of pretty little flowers, like tiny strawberry-blossoms. These little plants grow in sandy soil, at high altitudes, and are plentiful on the gravelly "domes" around Yosemite.

There are a good many kinds of Horkelia; perennial herbs, with compound leaves, usually with many leaflets, and flowers in clusters; calyx cup-shaped, or saucer-shaped, with five teeth and five bractlets; stamens ten; pistils two or many, with long slender styles, and borne on a receptacle like that of Potentilla, which these plants resemble, though the flowers are usually smaller, in closer clusters.

Horkèlia fúsca

White

Summer

Cal., Oreg., Nev.

A rather attractive plant, for the foliage is pretty, though the flowers are not very conspicuous. The rather stout, roughish stem, often purplish, is from one to two feet tall and the leaves are rather dark green, slightly sticky and sometimes downy. The flowers are about half an inch across, with white petals, tinged with pink, and are well set off by the dark reddish or purplish calyxes and buds, but the petals are too far apart, and there are not enough flowers out at one time, for the effect to be good. This varies a good deal in hairiness and there are several varieties. It is common in Yosemite.

Pussy-tails – Stellariopsis santolinoides.

Horkelia fusca.

There are several kinds of Cowania.

Cliff Rose

Cowània Stansburiàna

Yellow

Spring, summer

Southwest

Altitude and soil make a great difference in the beauty of this shrub. On the rocky rim of the Grand Canyon it is from four to eight feet high, picturesquely gnarled and twisted, but stunted looking, the gray bark hanging off the crooked branches and thick, distorted trunk in untidy shreds, the flowers pale, scanty, and but faintly scented. Halfway down Bright Angel trail it is a glorious thing, full of color and fragrance, about twelve feet high, luxuriant and healthy-looking. The small, leathery, evergreen leaves, crowded in bunches along the branches, are glossy and rich in color, setting off the light yellow flowers, with golden centers, which form long wands of bloom. The upper branches are clustered closely their whole length with blossoms, and when the wind sways the flowering branches to and fro they exhale an exquisite fragrance like orange flowers. The bloom is at its best in the Canyon in May, but there are still some lingering flowers in August. The calyx is top-shaped, with the petals and the two rows of numerous stamens on the throat of the tube. The pistils, from five to twelve, are densely woolly. The akenes have pale, silky-hairy tails, two inches or more in length, suggesting gone-to-seed Clematis. For some occult reason this shrub is called Quinine Bush at the Grand Canyon.

There are two kinds of Aruncus, resembling Spiraea; with small white flowers, the stamens and pistils in separate flowers on different plants. Aruncus is a word used by Pliny to designate a goat's beard.

Goat's Beard

Arúncus sylvéster

(Spiraea aruncus)

White

Summer

Northwest, etc.

A pretty plant, from three to seven feet high, with somewhat branching stems and smooth leaves, thin in texture. The minute, cream-white flowers are crowded closely along the many sprays which make up the very loose cluster, which is about a foot long, the effect of the whole being exceedingly airy and graceful and in fine contrast to the handsome foliage. This grows in mountain woods, across the continent and in Europe and Asia.

Cliff Rose – Cowania Stansburiana.

Goat's Beard – Aruncus sylvester.

There are only a few kinds of Adenostoma, evergreen shrubs, with small, narrow, resinous leaves and clusters of small, white flowers.

Chamise, Greasewood

Adenóstoma fasciculàtum

White

Spring

California

This is a very attractive shrub, from two to ten feet high, with long, slender branches, clothed with close bunches of leaves and bearing large clusters of tiny flowers, something like Spiraea. They have a feathery, creamy appearance, owing to the pale yellow stamens, and the olive-green foliage sets them off to perfection, the effect of the whole being very graceful, as the slender, flower-tipped branches sway to and fro in the wind. This is the most abundant and characteristic shrub of the higher Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada Mountains and sometimes covers miles of mountain slopes, looking a good deal like heather when it is not in bloom. When the chaparral is composed entirely of this shrub it is called chamisal. A. sparsifòlium of southern California, has scattered leaves and larger flowers. It is very fragrant and used medicinally by Spanish Californians and Indians, who call it Yerba del Pasmo, or "convulsion herb."

There are many kinds of Spiraea, natives of the north temperate zone; shrubs, without stipules and with clusters of white or pink flowers.

Flat-top Meadowsweet

Spiraèa corymbòsa

White

Spring, summer

Northwest, etc.

This is an attractive plant, from one to three feet tall, with slender, reddish-brown stems, with but few branches, and smooth, bright green leaves, paler on the under side. The small flowers are cream-white, with pinkish buds, and form very pretty, feathery, flat-topped clusters, about three inches across. This is found on banks and rocky places, in the mountains, and grows also in the East.

Pyramid Bush

Spiraèa pyramidàta

(S. betulaefolia in part)

Pink, whiteSpring, summer

Northwest

An attractive plant, but not so pretty as the last. It is about the same height, but more branching, with dark bluish-green leaves, somewhat pale on the under side. The flowers are white or pale pink, with deep pink buds, and form long clusters, not so feathery as the last, because the stamens are not so long. This grows in the mountains.

Chamise – Adenostoma fasciculatum.

Flat-top Meadow-sweet – Spiraea corymbosa.

Pyramid Bush – S. pyramidata.

Hardhack, Steeple-bush

Spiraèa Doúglasii

Pink

Spring, summer

Wash., Oreg., Cal.

A handsome shrub, from three to five feet high, with rather coarse leaves, smooth, but with a dull surface, and pale with close down on the under side, and bearing many beautiful, compact spires of small, pink flowers, warm in tone and deeper in color towards the center, with numerous, long, pink stamens, which give a very feathery appearance. The flowers are slightly sweet-smelling and bloom first at the top of the cluster, so that the effect of the whole spire, which is six or eight inches long, is light pink and fuzzy at the top, deepening below to the raspberry-pink of the buds. This grows along the edges of meadows and near brooks.

There are two kinds of Chamaebatiaria, both western; low shrubs; the flowers with five sepals, five petals, and about sixty stamens; the pistils five, more or less united.

Fern-bush

Chamaebatiària millefòlium

(Spiraea)

White

SummerArizona

A pretty and unusual-looking shrub, about three feet high, with reddish stems and shreddy bark, the downy leaves, pale yellowish-green in color, arranged at intervals along the branches in soft feathery bunches. The flowers are like small strawberry blossoms, slightly fragrant, and form pretty clusters. This grows on rocks, along the rim of the Grand Canyon, clinging to the edge and overhanging the depths.

There is only one kind of Coleogyne.

Coleógyne ramosíssima

Yellow

Spring

Southwest

The plateau in the Grand Canyon is covered for miles with this low shrub, which gives the landscape its characteristic pale desert coloring. The flowers, over half an inch across, with one or two pairs of three-lobed bracts at base, grow singly at the tips of the twigs and, unlike most of this family, have no petals and only four, spreading sepals, bright yellow inside, two of them pointed and the alternate two more round in shape. The ovary is enclosed in a yellow, hollow, urn-shaped receptacle, surrounded by numerous stamens inserted on its base, the yellow anthers with threadlike filaments. The very small, narrow, toothless leaves are evergreen, leathery and stiff, opposite, grayish in color and imperceptibly downy, clustered in small separate bunches along the rigid twigs, which are set almost at right angles to the reddish-gray branches and rather swollen at the joints. The whole shrub is from two feet to four feet high, stiff, almost thorny, and rather forbidding in appearance, but the odd little flowers are pretty.

Coleogyne – ramosissima.

Hardhack – Spiraea Douglasii.

Fern-bush – Chamaebatiaria millefolium.

There are several kinds of Argentina, differing from Potentilla in the leaflets and the style.

Silver-weed

Argentìna Anserìna

(Potentilla)

YellowSpring, summer, autumn

North America, etc.

This forms large straggling clumps of many, pale, downy stems, lying on the ground and rooting at the joints, like strawberry runners, with handsome foliage and pretty flowers. The leaves are rich green on the upper side and covered with silky white down on the under, giving a silvery appearance, and the flowers are an inch or more across, bright yellow, with centers of the same shade, and have long flower-stalks, sometimes as much as a foot tall. This is common and conspicuous in wet meadows and also grows in Europe and Asia.

There are only a few kinds of Dryas, shrubby plants, living in cold and arctic regions. The Latin name means "wood-nymph."

Alpine Avens

Drýas octopétala

White

Summer

Northwest, etc.

This is a charming little plant, from two to five inches tall, forming low, matted clumps of many branching stems, lying on the ground and woody at the base, and many stiffish leaves, with prominent veins, dark green and smooth on the upper side and white with close down on the under, their dark tones setting off the pure-white flowers, which have downy flower-stalks and are about an inch across, with about eight petals, a golden center and the calyx covered with sticky hairs. The seed-vessels are large and feathery. This grows in alpine places, across the continent, reaching an altitude of fourteen thousand feet, and in Europe and Asia.

Silver-weed – Argentina Anserina.

Alpine Avens – Dryas octopetala.

There are many kinds of Cinquefoils, mostly natives of the north temperate zone, usually herbs, with compound leaves and yellow, white or purple flowers, always with pedicels; the flat or cup-shaped calyx, with five, main teeth, alternating with five, tooth-like bractlets; petals five, broad, often notched; stamens numerous, with threadlike filaments and small anthers, near the base of the calyx-cup; pistils numerous, on the conical, hairy receptacle, which does not become fleshy or juicy, each pistil maturing into a dry, seed-like akene. Potentilla means "powerful," as some sorts are medicinal. They often resemble Buttercups, but never have shiny petals, and Buttercups do not have bractlets between the calyx-lobes.