Silverweed

(Argentina anserina)

 

   

 

 

Color Photograph: NRCS Plants Database, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Silverweed (Argentina anserina [L.] Rydb.)

Identification: A prostrate plant with stems along the ground and flowers and leaves arising on separate stalks from the stem. Flowers yellow, with 5 petals, and numerous stamens. Each flower on a separate stalk. Leaves compound with 7 to 25 paired, heavily toothed leaflets increasing in size from the base to the apex. Leaflets silvery beneath. Plant 1 to 3 feet in length.

Distribution: Across Canada from Alaska to Greenland. In eastern North America from Iowa and the Great Lakes eastward to New England and southward to New Jersey and Tennessee. In the west south to California and southward in the Rocky Mountains to New Mexico. Also found in Europe and Asia.

Habitat: Silverweed is found along sandy ocean and lake shores.

Flowering period: June to August.

Similar Species: Silverweed is easily identified and separated from Potentilla species by its compound leaves, the silvery undersides of the leaflets, and the prostrate stems.

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