Potentilla rubra Willd. ex Schltdl.

Potentilla rubra Wilid. ; Schlecht. Ges. Nat. Preunde Berlin
Mag. 7: 272. 1815.
Potentilla comaroides Humb. & Bonpl. ; Nestler, Monog. Potent. 62. 1816.
Perennial, with a thick tap-root and short caudex ; stems ascending or decumbent, 2-3 dm. high, few-flowered and few-leaved, silky-can esc ent ; basal leaves appressed-pilose or
bl" glabrate above, silvery-white beneath; petioles appressed-silky, 3-8 cm. long; leaflets 5-7, narrowly oblong, entire or 3-5-toothed at the apex, or sometimes with several shallow teeth above the middle, 2-A cm. long, 8-14 mm. wide; stem-leaves ternate; stipules large, ovate, entire, 5-15 mm. long ; bractlets 3 mm. long, oblong, acutish, shorter than the ovate-acute sepals ; petals broadly obcordate, twice as long as the sepals, dark-purple, about 8 mm. long.
Type locality : Sides of the Volcano Jorullo, Mexico. Distribution : Mountains of central and southern Mexico.