Family

Rose.

Colour

Yellow.

Odour

Faintly fragrant.

Range

Maine southward and westward.

Time of Bloom

April-August.

Flowers; small; solitary; axillary. Calyx: of five narrow sepals, alternating with an under row of delicately pointed bracts. Corolla: of five rosaceous petals. Stamens: numerous. Pistils: numerous, forming a head. Leaves: divided into three obovate leaflets, the two lateral ones again divided and making the five stubby fingers which have suggested its name. Stem: growing close to the ground; silky. The plant spreads by runners.

One of our dearest little field blossoms whose cherry yellow head peeps out among the grass in early spring. We find it when we follow some stone wall to a place where we know a spreading patch of fraises des bois, as the French call the wild strawberries, is in bloom. The little plant is, in fact, often called wild strawberry. Perhaps we attempt to carry it away, but it is indignant at such treatment and its petals droop quickly after leaving their shady home.