Waldsteinia
(named in honour of Count Francis von Waldstein, 1759-1823, a German botanist and author). Including Comaropsis (in part). ORD. Rosaceae. A small genus (four species) of hardy, creeping, perennial herbs, with the habit of Fragaria, natives of Central and Eastern Europe, Northern Asia, and Eastern temperate America. Flowers yellow, rather large; calyx persistent, with or without five minute bracteoles; petals five, obovate; stamens numerous; pedicels often curved; scapes bracteate, two to five-flowered. Leaves alternate, long-petiolate, entire, lobed, three to five-cleft, or three to five-foliolate with crenate or incised leaflets; stipules rather large, membranous. Only three species call for description here, the North American W. lobata probably not being in cultivation. They are rather pretty plants, thriving in ordinary soil. Propagation may be effected by divisions, or by seeds.
W. fragarioides (Strawberry-like).* Barren Strawberry. fl., petals longer than the calyx. June. l. trifoliolate; leaflets broadly wedge-shaped, cut-toothed. North America, 1803. SYNS. Comaropsis fragarioides, Dalibarda fragarioides (B. M. 1567; L. B. C. 408).
W. geoides (Geum-like). fl. smaller than those of Potentilla verna. June. l. palmately three to five-lobed; lobes acutely toothed. Hungary, &c., 1804. (B. M. 2595.) W. trifolia (three-leaved). fl., petals rounded at the base, without auricles; ovary silky-villous. April and May. l. smaller than those of W. geoides; leaflets very shortly stalked, beset with long hairs. h. 4in. to 6in. Eastern Europe.