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Common Cinquefoil. Five Finger

Potentilla Canadensis. Rose Family.

Stem.--Slender; prostrate, or sometimes erect. Leaves.--Divided really into three leaflets, but apparently into five by the parting of the lateral leaflets. Flowers.--Yellow; growing singly from the axils of the leaves. Calyx.--Deeply five-cleft, with bracts between each tooth, thus appearing ten-cleft. Corolla.--Of five rounded petals. Stamens.--Many. Pistils.--Many, in a head.

From spring to nearly midsummer the roads are bordered and the fields carpeted with the bright flowers of the common cinquefoil. The passer-by unconsciously betrays his recognition of some of the prominent features of the Rose family by often assuming that the plant is a yellow-flowered wild strawberry. Both of the English names refer to the pretty foliage, cinquefoil being derived from the French cinque feuilles. The generic name, Potentilla, has reference to the powerful medicinal properties formerly attributed to the genus. WINTER CRESS. YELLOW ROCKET. HERB OF ST. BARBARA.

Barbarea vulgaris. Mustard Family.

Stem.--Smooth. Leaves.--The lower lyre-shaped; the upper ovate, toothed or deeply incised at their base. Flowers.--Yellow; growing in racemes. Pod.--Linear; erect or slightly spreading.

As early as may we find the bright flowers of the wintercress along the roadside. This is probably the first of the yellow mustards to appear.