Dryas
(mythological; from Dryades, or nymphs of the Oaks; the leaves bear some resemblance to those of the Oak). ORD. Rosaceae. A genus containing a couple of species of elegant dwarf hardy shrubby plants, natives of cold and Arctic regions of the Northern hemisphere. Flowers white or yellow, large. Leaves simple, petiolate, oblong, entire, crenate or sub-pinnatifid; margins recurved, shining above, downy beneath. They are of easy culture in a moist peat soil. Propagated by cuttings, by divisions, or from seed. D. Drummondi (Drummond's).* fl. golden-yellow, about 1in. across; calyx covered with blackish glandular hairs. June. l. elliptic, rather attenuated at the base, deeply crenated, clothed with white tomentum beneath and on the scape. North America, 1800. A rare evergreen trailer. (B. M. 2972.) D. octopetala (eight-petaled).* Mountain Avens. fl. white with yellow stamens, about 1in. or more across, solitary on erect peduncles. June. l. obovate or sub-cordate, crenately serrated, white and downy beneath. Northern hemisphere (Britain). (Sy. En. B. 459.)