Prairie Cinquefoil

(Potentilla pensylvanica)

 

   

 

 

Kantrud, Harold A. 1995. Native Wildflowers of the North Dakota Grasslands. Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, USGS.

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

 

Prairie Cinquefoil (Potentilla pensylvanica L.)

Identification: Plant erect. Flowers yellow with 5 broad deep-yellow petals and numerous stamens. Flowers in small clusters at the end of the branches. Stem hairy. Leaves pinnately compound with 2 to 4 opposite pairs of leaflets and an apical leaflet. Leaflets deeply lobed and heavily woolly. Base of leaf petiole with large, pointed stipules. Plant 1 to 2 feet in height.

Distribution: Across Canada. Southward in the east to Minnesota, Illinois, and New England. Also found in the Prairie States to Kansas and most of western North America.

Habitat: Prairie Cinquefoil is found in prairie, along the shores of ponds and lakes, on cliffs, and in limestone soils in general.

Flowering period: June to August.

Similar Species:  The leaves of Bushy Cinquefoil are also pinnately compound, but its leaflets are coarsely toothed, not lobed.

Comments: Despite its name, this species is not found in Pennsylvania.

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