Perennial herbs, with the aspect of Strawberries, with alternate mainly basal long-petioled 3-5-foliolate or lobed leaves, membranous stipules, and yellow corymbose flowers on bracted scapes. Calyx persistent, the tube top-shaped, minutely 5-bracteolate or bractless at the summit, 5-lobed. Petals 5, obovate, longer than the calyx-lobes. Stamens 8, inserted on the throat of the calyx; filaments rigid, persistent. Carpels 2-6, inserted on a short villous receptacle; style nearly terminal, deciduous, filiform. Achenes 2-6, obliquely obovoid, pubescent. Seed erect. [Named in honor of Franz Adam von Waldstein-Wartenburg, 1750-1823, a German botanist.]

Five known species, natives of the north temperate zone. Besides the following, another occurs in Georgia. Type species: Waldsteinia geoides Willd.

1. Waldsteinia Fragarioides (Michx.) Tratt. Barren Or Dry Strawberry

Fig. 2273

Dalibarda fragarioides Michx. Fl. Bor.

Am. 1: 300. pl. 28. 1803. Waldsteinia fragarioides Tratt. Ros.

Mon. 3: 107. 1823.

Pubescent or nearly glabrous, root-stock creeping, rather stout. Stipules ovate-lanceolate, acutish; leaves tufted, long-petioled,3-foliolate (rarely 5-foliolate); leaflets obovate, obtuse at the apex, broadly cuneate at the base, dentate or crenate and sometimes incised, 1'-2' long; scapes slender, erect, bracted, corymbosely 3-8-flowered; pedicels slender, often drooping; flowers yellow, 3"-5" broad; achenes 4-6, finely pubescent; calyx-lobes ovate-lanceolate, acute.

Woods and shaded .hillsides, New Brunswick to Ontario, Minnesota, Michigan, Indiana and Georgia. May-June.

2. Waldsteinia Doniàna Tratt. Southern Dry Strawberry

Fig. 2274

W. Doniana Tratt. Ros. Mon. 3: 109. 1823.

W. parviftora Small, Bull. Torr. Club 25: 137. 1898.

Perennial by horizontal rootstocks, villous-hirsute, or glabrous in age. Leaves basal, 5'-12' high; petioles much longer than the blades, usually less densely pubescent than the scapes; leaflets cuneate-obovate or broadly rhomboidal, 1 1/2'-3' long, coarsely and irregularly crenate or lobed; scapes erect, solitary or several together, commonly shorter than the leaves, corymbose at top; calyx usually hairy, the tube broadly turbinate, 1 1/4"- 1 1/2" long, the segments triangular-lanceolate, or lanceolate-acuminate, often shorter than the tube; petals linear-oblong or narrowly elliptic, shorter than the calyx-segments or barely longer; achenes obovoid, 1 1/2" long.

In woods and shaded soil, southwestern Virginia to North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia. March-May.

24. GÈUM L. Sp. Pl. 500. 1753.

Perennial herbs, with odd-pinnate or deeply pinnatifid, stipulate leaves, those of the base clustered, those of the stem commonly smaller. Flowers cymose-corymbose or solitary, yellow, white or purple. Calyx persistent, its tube obconic or hemispheric, usually 5-bracteo-late, 5-lobed. Petals 5, orbicular, oblong or obovate, obtuse or emarginate, exceeding the calyx. Stamens ∞ , inserted on a disk at the base of the calyx; filaments filiform. Carpels ∞, aggregated on a short receptacle. Style filiform, jointed, the lower part persistent. Seed erect, its testa membranous. [The ancient Latin name.]

About 40 species, most abundant in the north temperate zone, a few in southern South America, 1 in South Africa. Besides the following, several others occur in western North America. Type species: Geum urbànum L.