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bigflower cinquefoil, leafy drymocallis or wood beauty

Habit Herbs, perennial, rarely annual or biennial, shrubs, or subshrubs; unarmed.
Caudex branches

short to elongate.

Stems

tufted to loosely spaced, (1.2–)1.5–3.5(–4.5) dm;

base (1.5–)2–3 mm diam., ± densely septate-glandular.

Leaves

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).

alternate, rarely opposite, pinnately (palmately) compound (simple in Alchemilla, Aphanes, and Chamaerhodos);

stipules persistent (absent in Chamaerhodos), adnate to petiole;

venation pinnate or palmate.

Inflorescences

5–15-flowered, leafy, congested to ± open, 1/6–1/2 of stem, narrow to wide, branch angles 15–30(–40)°.

Pedicels

1–12 mm, short-hairy, septate-glandular.

Flowers

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.

perianth and androecium perigynous;

epicalyx bractlets present, sometimes absent;

hypanthium usually patelliform, cupulate, or campanulate, sometimes turbinate, saucer-shaped, flat-bottomed, or subglobose to ellipsoid or ovoid;

torus flat to conic or turbinate, enlarged (absent or reduced in Alchemilla, Aphanes, and Chamaerhodos);

carpels 1–260, styles basal or lateral to subterminal, distinct;

ovules 1(or 2), basal.

Fruits

aggregated achenes (achenes in Alchemilla and Aphanes);

torus sometimes fleshy;

styles deciduous or persistent, not elongate.

Achenes

light brown, 1 mm.

Drymocallis fissa

Rosaceae tribe Potentilleae

Phenology Flowering May–Aug.
Habitat Sagebrush slopes, open forests, stream banks, often in rocky or moderately disturbed sites
Elevation 1600–3000 m (5200–9800 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CO; SD; UT; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
North America; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies; Bermuda; Eurasia; Africa; Atlantic Islands; Pacific Islands; Australia
Discussion

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.)

Genera 14–22, species ca. 860 (14 genera, 189 species, including 1 hybrid, in the flora area).

The base chromosome number for Potentilleae is mostly x = 7 (8 in Alchemilla and Aphanes; 14 in Comarum).

Variation in the number of genera recognized in Potentilleae is due to differences in generic delimitation between D. Potter et al. (2007) and the authors of Potentilla and segregates here (see 9. Ivesia and 8. Potentilla for discussion). In the former, Duchesnea, Horkelia, Horkeliella, and Ivesia are included within Potentilla. Likewise, Aphanes is included within Alchemilla by Potter et al. while it is kept distinct here.

Potentilla and its segregates and Fragaria are host to Phragmidium rusts, but not the other genera of the tribe.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Shrubs; leaf lobe margins entire; achenes hirsute.
Dasiphora
1. Herbs, perennial, sometimes annual or biennial, or subshrubs; leaf lobe margins or apices ± toothed, sometimes entire; achenes glabrous (sometimes ± hairy)
→ 2
2. Petals 0, sepals 4; achenes 1, enclosed in dry, urceolate or subglobose to ellipsoid or ovoid hypanthia
→ 3
2. Petals and sepals usually 5; achenes 1–260, usually aggregated (sometimes on elongating tori), usually in (± open) patelliform, cupulate, campanulate, or turbinate hypanthia (not enclosed in dry hypanthium)
→ 4
3. Herbs perennial; leaves basal, blades reniform to orbiculate, palmately lobed, sometimes palmately compound; stamens 4.
Alchemilla
3. Herbs annual; leaves cauline, blades cuneate, deeply divided into segments, each lobed; stamen 1(or 2).
Aphanes
4. Leaves all or mostly basal or proximal (if cauline, deeply pinnatifid), ternate or 2–4-ternate (sometimes simple and coarsely toothed apically in Sibbaldia)
→ 5
4. Leaves basal or cauline, the latter usually reduced distally, odd-pinnate to palmate, rarely ternate or ± bipinnate
→ 9
5. Tori becoming red and fleshy in fruit; leaf margins serrate to crenate
→ 6
5. Tori hemispheric (not enlarged or fleshy) in fruit or absent; leaf margins entire or (2–)3(–5)-toothed apically
→ 7
6. Leaves ± doubly serrate or crenate; stolons leafy; inflorescences: flowers solitary, axillary at stolon nodes; petals yellow.
Duchesnea
6. Leaves serrate to crenate; stolons not leafy; inflorescences 1–10-flowered, cymes, axillary from leaf rosettes; petals usually white.
Fragaria
7. Leaves pinnately compound or simple and deeply pinnatifid, margins entire, stipules absent.
Chamaerhodos
7. Leaves ternate, margins toothed apically, stipules persistent
→ 8
8. Petals ± yellow; stamens 5.
Sibbaldia
8. Petals usually white; stamens 20(–30).
Sibbaldiopsis
9. Petals deep red to purple, rarely pink, shorter than sepals; tori enlarged and spongy at maturity; horizontal stems sometimes floating, wetland habitats.
Comarum
9. Petals yellow to white, rarely pink or red (then equal to or longer than sepals); tori not enlarged and spongy at maturity; stems erect to decumbent, not horizontal or floating even if in wetlands
→ 10
10. Anthers dehiscing by continuous marginal slit (with a single theca); styles sub-basal.
Drymocallis
10. Anthers dehiscing longitudinally; styles subterminal to lateral
→ 11
11. Hypanthium patelliform to campanulate or cupulate to turbinate (not flat-bottomed); filaments not forming tube; petals white to yellow, sometimes reddish or pink tinged
→ 12
11. Hypanthium ± cupulate or bluntly campanulate and flat-bottomed; filaments forming tube; petals usually white, sometimes pink-tinged, rose-veined, or cream
→ 13
12. Plants not aromatic; leaves ± cordate or reniform to narrowly elliptic in outline, leaflets 3–15(–41); petals oblanceolate or obovate to obcordate to nearly round, rarely elliptic; carpels 3–260.
Potentilla
12. Plants often aromatic; leaves planar to cylindric, leaflets (3–)7–161; petals linear or narrowly oblanceolate to obovate, sometimes obcordate; carpels 1–20(–40).
Ivesia
13. Stamens 10; leaflets (3–)5–41.
Horkelia
13. Stamens 20; leaflets 30–70.
Horkeliella
Source FNA vol. 9, p. 284. FNA vol. 9, p. 119. Author: Luc Brouillet.
Parent taxa Rosaceae > subfam. Rosoideae > tribe Potentilleae > Drymocallis Rosaceae > subfam. Rosoideae
Sibling taxa
D. arguta, D. arizonica, D. ashlandica, D. campanulata, D. convallaria, D. cuneifolia, D. deseretica, D. glabrata, D. glandulosa, D. hansenii, D. lactea, D. micropetala, D. pseudorupestris, D. rhomboidea
Subordinate taxa
Alchemilla, Aphanes, Chamaerhodos, Comarum, Dasiphora, Drymocallis, Duchesnea, Fragaria, Horkelia, Horkeliella, Ivesia, Potentilla, Sibbaldia, Sibbaldiopsis
Synonyms Potentilla fissa
Name authority (Nuttall) Rydberg: Monogr. N. Amer. Potentilleae, 197. (1898) Sweet: Brit. Fl. Gard. 2: sub plate 124. (1825)
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