Flora of North America species comparison

Variety austiniae was erroneously treated as Potentilla glandulosa subsp. ashlandica (Greene) D. D. Keck (B. Ertter 1993); it now is understood to be a separate entity. As here defined, it is the common large-petaled, open-flowered Drymocallis of northern California and adjacent Oregon and Nevada, differing from var. lactea in its more widely branched inflorescences and usually pale to bright yellow petals. The boundary between the two varieties is unclear, in part because petal color is uncertain on herbarium specimens. Some collections from Steens Mountain, Oregon, are transitional to D. pseudorupestris var. saxicola. Occasional populations in northern California that combine the morphology of var. austiniae with more glandular vestiture on pedicels and stems might indicate introgression with D. ashlandica or D. pseudorupestris.

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

Variety lactea is the most common and conspicuous Drymocallis at higher elevations in the central and southern Sierra Nevada, where it is recognized by its large cream-white to yellowish petals and narrow inflorescences. It also occurs in the San Jacinto Mountains and Transverse Ranges of southern California, and extends into the Intermountain Region from the mountains of southeastern Oregon to central Nevada.

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