Potentilla anglica
Potentilla nivea
English cinquefoil, potentille d'angleterre, trailing cinquefoil, trailing tormentil, wood cinquefoil
potentille des neiges, snow cinquefoil, snowy cinquefoil
stout, not columnar, not sheathed with marcescent whole leaves.
soon becoming prostrate, ± flagelliform, usually openly branched, eventually rooting at some nodes, (0.3–)1.5–7+ dm.
ascending to erect, (0.3–)0.5–3(–4) dm, lengths 1.5–2.5(–4) times basal leaves.
± persistent, ternate or palmate, 2–10(–12) cm;
petiole 1–7(–8) cm, long hairs sparse to abundant, appressed, 0.5–1 mm, stiff, glands absent;
leaflets 3–5, central ± obovate to cuneate, 1–3(–3.5) × 0.8–2(–2.5) cm, distal ± 1/2 of margin incised 1/4–1/3(–1/2) to midvein, teeth 2–4 per side, surfaces similar, green, sparsely to moderately hairy.
(1–)3–10(–15) cm;
petiole (0.5–)1–6(–10) cm, long hairs usually absent, sometimes sparse to common (less so than cottony hairs), ± appressed, 1–2 mm, soft, smooth, short-crisped hairs absent or obscured, cottony hairs abundant to dense sometimes sparse with age, glands absent, sparse, or obscured;
leaflets overlapping, central obovate, 0.5–2(–4) × (0.2–)0.4–1.2(–2) cm, subsessile, base cuneate, margins slightly revolute, distal ± 3/4 incised (1/4–)1/3–1/2 to midvein, teeth (2–)3–5(–6) per side, ± approximate, surfaces dissimilar, often strongly so, abaxial ± white, long hairs 0.8–1.2 mm, cottony-crisped hairs dense, adaxial usually green, sometimes grayish green, long hairs sparse to abundant, short-crisped hairs sparse to common.
2–3(–4) proximal to 1st flowering or branching node, usually well expanded at anthesis, usually ternate, 2–6(–10) cm;
petiole 0.3–4(–8) cm;
leaflets (3–)5, ± resembling or narrower than those of basal leaves, narrowly cuneate, 1–2(–3.5) × 0.8–2(–2.5) cm, apex rounded to obtuse.
0–1.
solitary flowers at stolon nodes.
1–5(–7)-flowered.
(1–)3–10(–17) cm.
1–4 cm in flower, to 5 cm in fruit.
4(–5)-merous;
epicalyx bractlets narrowly elliptic to oblong or ovate, 3–4(–7) × 1–1.5 mm, smaller than to slightly larger than sepals;
hypanthium 2–4 mm diam.;
sepals (3–)4–6 mm, apex broadly acute or acuminate;
petals 6–9 × 5–9 mm, apex ± retuse;
stamens 15–20, filaments 0.8–1.2 mm, anthers 0.8–1.2 mm;
carpels 20–50, styles 0.9–1.5 mm.
epicalyx bractlets narrowly to broadly lanceolate or elliptic, (2–)4–7 × 0.6–1.7 mm, usually 1/4–1/2 as wide as sepals, margins flat, red glands usually absent, sometimes sparse, inconspicuous;
hypanthium (2–)3–4 mm diam.;
sepals (2.5–)4–8 mm, apex acute;
petals (3–)4–8 × (3–)5–9 mm, slightly longer than sepals;
filaments 0.9–1.2 mm, anthers 0.5 mm;
carpels 20–40, apical hairs absent, styles narrowly columnar or columnar-tapered, strongly papillate-swollen at very base, rarely in proximal 1/5–1/3, 0.7–1.2 mm.
1–1.5(–1.8) mm, ± smooth.
1.1–1.5 mm.
± erect, stout to slender, 1–4 cm.
= 28, 56 (Europe).
= 56, 63; 28, 42, 49, 70 (Asia, Europe).
Potentilla anglica
Potentilla nivea
Potentilla anglica apparently is a product of hybridization involving P. erecta and P. reptans (B. Matfield and J. R. Ellis 1972) that has become stabilized and distinct from both parents. In Europe, it forms back-cross hybrids with both P. erecta (P. ×suberecta Zimmeter) and P. reptans (P. ×mixta Nolte); these hybrids are not known from North America. A garden hybrid supposedly between P. anglica and P. nepalensis Hooker (known as P. ×tonguei Mallett) was found in Allegany State Park, New York, but this was likely cultivated rather than naturalized.
Potentilla anglica probably was introduced even in Newfoundland (A. Kurtto et al. in J. Jalas et al. 1972+, vol. 13), contrary to the view expressed by M. L. Fernald (1950).
The name Potentilla procumbens Sibthorp was previously used for this species; that is a superfluous and illegitimate name.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Although now restricted to plants with exclusively (or at least predominantly) cottony hairs on the petioles, the name Potentilla nivea has a long history with an often wider application, sometimes including nearly all of sect. Niveae. As further confusion, J. Soják (1989) noted that the Linnaean type of P. nivea belonged to what is here treated as P. arenosa. Although historical usage of P. nivea has been re-established as a conserved name with a conserved type (B. Eriksen et al. 1999), from 1989 to 1999 the name P. nivea was applied to P. arenosa. During this period, P. prostrata subsp. floccosa was briefly adopted as the correct name for this species (for example, W. J. Cody 1996).
Molecular evidence (B. Eriksen and M. H. Töpel 2006) indicates that populations of Potentilla nivea in the Atlantic regions, including Greenland and eastern Canada, differ from those in the Beringian regions of northwestern North America, suggesting expansion from separate Pleistocene refugia. A comparable pattern was noted by R. Elven and S. G. Aiken (2007) based on morphologic characters. The conserved type of P. nivea is from northern Sweden (Eriksen et al. 1999) and belongs to the Atlantic morphologic group. The variation within each region is large, and racial recognition would accordingly be premature. Plants from sites south of the continental glaciation, which were not included in the analysis by Eriksen and Töpel, deviate in having acuminate leaflet teeth and epicalyx bractlets and in being generally more slender. Epicalyx bractlets of some Washington plants are nearly as narrow as those of P. crebridens.
Additional chromosome numbers have been reported for Potentilla nivea, but it is unknown whether these apply to this species, P. crebridens, some Asian relative, or hybrids.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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