Silver-Weed. Cinquefoil
Potentilla Anserina, L. Rose Family
Stems.—Prostrate. Leaves.—All radical; a foot or so long; pinnate, with seven to twenty-one leaflets with smaller ones interposed. Leaflets.—Sessile; oblong; toothed; shining green; silvery beneath. Flowers.—Bright yellow; long-peduncled; solitary; an inch across. Sepals.—Five; with five bractlets between. Petals.—Five. Stamens.—Twenty to twenty-five. Pistils.—Numerous; on a hairy receptacle. Hab.—Throughout North America.
The bright golden blossoms of the silver-weed are common in moist places, haunting stream-banks, lingering about stagnant ponds, or even pushing their way up amid the grasses of our salt marshes. The white under-surfaces of the leaves are responsible for one of the common names of this plant.
P. glandulosa, Lindl., is found upon dry hillsides. It is one or two feet high, and is an ill-smelling, somewhat sticky plant, with glandular hairs. The stems are leafy, and the small flowers, like pale-yellow strawberry-blossoms, are produced in loose clusters. The corolla scarcely exceeds the calyx. The leaves, which have from five to nine leaflets, have not the silvery under-surface of those of P. Anserina.