Potentilla crinita
Potentilla nivea
bearded cinquefoil, Lemmon's cinquefoil
potentille des neiges, snow cinquefoil, snowy cinquefoil
stout, not columnar, not sheathed with marcescent whole leaves.
(0.5–)1.5–4.5 dm, lengths 2–4(–5) times basal leaves.
ascending to erect, (0.3–)0.5–3(–4) dm, lengths 1.5–2.5(–4) times basal leaves.
pinnate, 3–15(–20) cm;
petiole 1–10(–15) cm, long hairs dense, appressed, 1.5–2.5 mm, usually stiff, short and crisped hairs usually absent, cottony hairs absent, glands sparse, often obscured;
leaflets often conduplicate, lateral ones evenly paired, (3–)4–6(–7) per side on distal 1/3–2/3 of leaf axis, distal pairs ± decurrent, often confluent with terminal leaflet, larger leaflets narrowly cuneate or oblanceolate to obovate, 1–3(–4) × 0.2–0.8(–1) cm, distal 1/4–1/2(–2/3) or less of margin incised ± 1/4 or less to midvein, teeth (0–)1–5(–9) per side, 1–2 mm, surfaces ± similar to ± dissimilar, abaxial silvery to greenish, long hairs usually dense (at least on primary veins), 1–2 mm, stiff, short-crisped hairs absent or sparse, cottony hairs usually absent, glands sparse to common, often obscured, adaxial ± green, long hairs sparse to common, sometimes absent, short, crisped, and cottony hairs absent, glands sparse.
(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.
1–3(–4).
0–1.
(5–)10–30-flowered.
1–5(–7)-flowered.
0.5–2(–4) cm.
1–4 cm in flower, to 5 cm in fruit.
epicalyx bractlets lanceolate, 1.5–4.5 × 0.5(–1) mm, 1/2–2/3 as long as sepals, abaxial vestiture similar to or ± sparser than sepals, not glabrescent, straight hairs common, crisped or cottony hairs usually absent;
hypanthium 2.5–5 mm diam.;
sepals (3–)4–7 mm, apex acute to long acuminate;
petals (3–)4.5–7.5(–8) × 4–6 mm;
filaments 1–3 mm, anthers 0.6–1.1 mm;
carpels 5–20, styles 1.6–2.6 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.
1.4–1.7 mm, smooth or slightly rugose.
1.1–1.5 mm.
= 56, 63; 28, 42, 49, 70 (Asia, Europe).
Potentilla crinita
Potentilla nivea
Potentilla crinita occurs mainly in the upper foothills and mountains from southern Nevada to south-central Utah, northern Arizona, and northwestern New Mexico and is disjunct to southwestern Colorado (Archuleta County). It tends to grow on somewhat drier, rockier sites than co-occurring species of Potentilla. The often conduplicate leaflets, falcate in outline, bear relatively few, small teeth. Two varieties are sometimes recognized, based on leaflet and vestiture characters that do not reliably coincide.
Potentilla crinita can hybridize with P. hippiana where the two species overlap, in spite of ecological partitioning. N. H. Holmgren (1997b) noted the type of P. crinita may be such a hybrid. If correct, then P. lemmonii would be used for the species unless the name P. crinita were to be conserved with a conserved type.
(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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