Drymocallis fissa
Drymocallis convallaria
bigflower cinquefoil, leafy drymocallis or wood beauty
cordilleran drymocallis or wood beauty, cordilleran woodbeauty, cream cinquefoil, sharp tooth cinquefoil, valley cinquefoil, white cinquefoil
short to elongate.
short.
tufted to loosely spaced, (1.2–)1.5–3.5(–4.5) dm;
base (1.5–)2–3 mm diam., ± densely septate-glandular.
usually solitary, sometimes tufted, 4–9(–10) dm;
base 2–5 mm diam., ± densely septate-glandular.
sparsely to moderately hairy;
basal (3–)7–19 cm, leaflet pairs (4–)5–6(–10; additional reduced leaflets sometimes interspersed);
terminal leaflet usually broadly obovate-cuneate, sometimes elliptic, (1–)1.5–3.5(–5) × (1–)1.5–3(–3.5) cm, teeth single or double, 5–13 per side, apex rounded to obtuse;
cauline 1–3, well developed, leaflet pairs 4–6(–10).
sparsely to moderately, rarely densely, hairy;
basal (10–)15–25(–30) cm, leaflet pairs (2–)3–4;
terminal leaflet usually obovate, sometimes elliptic, 3–5(–6) × 1.5–4.5 cm, teeth double, 9–16 per side, apex rounded-obtuse;
cauline (1–)2–4, well developed at least proximally, leaflet pairs usually 3.
5–15-flowered, leafy, congested to ± open, 1/6–1/2 of stem, narrow to wide, branch angles 15–30(–40)°.
(5–)10–40-flowered, not leafy, congested to open, (1/8–)1/6–1/3(–1/2) of stem, narrow, branch angles 5–20°.
1–12 mm, short-hairy, septate-glandular.
1–5 (proximal to 25) mm, sparsely to ± densely short-hairy, predominantly septate-glandular.
opening widely;
epicalyx bractlets linear-oblanceolate, 3–7 × 1–2 mm;
sepals spreading, 6–10 mm, apex acute to acuminate;
petals overlapping, spreading, yellow, broadly obovate, 7–11 × 5–11 mm, equal to or exceeding sepals;
filaments 1.5–4.5 mm, anthers (0.7–)1–1.4 mm;
styles thickened, 1 mm.
opening ± widely;
epicalyx bractlets narrowly elliptic, (2–)4–6 × 0.7–1.5 mm;
sepals ± spreading, (4–)5–8(–10) mm, apex acute;
petals not or scarcely overlapping, ± spreading, cream-white to pale yellow, obovate-elliptic, sometimes broadly so, (3–)5–8 × (2–)4–6 mm, ± equal to sepals;
filaments 1.5–2.5 mm, anthers 0.7–1 mm;
styles thickened, 0.8 mm.
light brown, 1 mm.
light brown, 1 mm.
Drymocallis fissa
Drymocallis convallaria
Drymocallis fissa is distinctive in its relatively numerous leaflets (often with additional smaller ones), large flowers, and large, elongate anthers. It is most abundant in the Colorado Front Range, extending into the Medicine Bow Mountains of Wyoming. Outlying populations occur at least as far north as the Bighorn Mountains of northern Wyoming and the Black Hills of South Dakota. Tentatively included here are large-anthered populations from the eastern Uintah Mountains of Utah, though these often have fewer leaflets and smaller flowers of unknown color; they may represent a unique taxon worthy of separate recognition. Possible collections of D. fissa from New Mexico, including the type of Potentilla fissa var. major Torrey & A. Gray, are of uncertain placement in that they combine features of D. arguta, D. arizonica, and D. fissa. Reports from other states, including Montana, are probably all based on misidentified specimens.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Drymocallis convallaria is widespread in western North America, occurring mostly west of the Continental Divide from south-central Alaska to Arizona. It differs from most sympatric species in usually having a single thick stem, a narrow inflorescence, and cream-white to pale yellow petals, at most only slightly longer than the sepals.
Some collections from southern Idaho and northern Nevada that have very small petals in the size range of Drymocallis micropetala are included here on the basis of glandular pedicels. Excluded here are comparably small-petaled plants from the Warner Mountains of California and Oregon that have the aspect of D. convallaria but the blunter, redder achenes of D. glandulosa. Populations in northern Idaho and adjacent Washington that approach D. arguta in size and vestiture are provisionally treated as D. convallaria on the basis of leaflet shape. Specimens from New Mexico previously assigned to this taxon have largely been redetermined to D. arguta in the strict sense. See also discussions of Potentilla fissa var. major under 1. D. fissa, and of D. valida under the genus discussion. The illegitimate names P. glutinosa Nuttall ex Rydberg and D. glutinosa Rydberg have been applied most often to D. convallaria.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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