Potentilla crinita
Potentilla vahliana
bearded cinquefoil, Lemmon's cinquefoil
potentille de Vahl, Vahl's cinquefoil
usually stout, columnar, sheathed with marcescent whole leaves.
(0.5–)1.5–4.5 dm, lengths 2–4(–5) times basal leaves.
erect, (0.2–)0.3–0.8(–1) dm, lengths 2–4(–5) 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 cm;
petiole 0.5–2 cm, long hairs common to abundant, ascending to spreading, 0.5–1.5(–2) mm, soft to weak, smooth, short hairs absent, crisped/short-cottony hairs sparse to abundant, glands sparse to common;
leaflets separate to slightly overlapping, central obovate, 0.8–1.2(–1.5) × 0.5–1(–1.5) cm, sessile or subsessile, base cuneate, margins revolute, distal ± 1/2 incised (1/3–)1/2–3/4 to midvein, teeth 2–3 per side, ± approximate to distant, surfaces ± dissimilar, abaxial yellowish white or grayish, long hairs 1–2 mm, cottony-crisped hairs ± dense, adaxial green to yellowish gray, long(/short) hairs common to abundant, crisped hairs absent or sparse.
1–3(–4).
0–1(–2).
(5–)10–30-flowered.
1–2(–3)-flowered.
0.5–2(–4) cm.
0.5–1.5 cm in flower, to 3.5 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 broadly ovate, 2.5–4(–5) × 1.5–3 mm, ± as wide as sepals, margins flat or revolute, red glands absent;
hypanthium 2–4 mm diam.;
sepals 2.5–5(–6) mm, apex subacute to acute;
petals 8–10 × 7–12 mm, significantly longer than sepals;
filaments 1–1.2 mm, anthers 0.4–0.6 mm;
carpels 30–40, apical hairs absent, styles narrowly columnar, distinctly papillate-swollen at very base, 1–1.1 mm.
1.4–1.7 mm, smooth or slightly rugose.
1.1–1.5 mm.
= 42, 49, 56.
Potentilla crinita
Potentilla vahliana
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.)
As circumscribed here, Potentilla vahliana is confined to northeastern arctic Canada (including northernmost Quebec) and western Greenland. Plants previously assigned to P. vahliana from northwestern Greenland, Yukon, most of arctic Canada, and Alaska are now relegated to P. subvahliana.
Plants from western Greenland, whence Potentilla vahliana was described and typified, have petioles with at least some short cottony or crisped hairs in addition to long, smooth hairs, and the styles have distinct papillae at the very base. These features are derived from a combination of the P. uniflora Ledebour and P. nivea groups. Potentilla vahliana is of a higher polyploidy than the species of the P. uniflora group. Potentilla vahliana is treated here as a geographically restricted species, most probably from cross(es) between P. nivea in the narrow sense (probably the Atlantic race, often 2n = 70) and P. subvahliana (2n = 28); it shares several features with the latter, not least of which is leaf dissection and the columnar structure of the caudex.
In mainland Quebec, plants combine features from Potentilla arenosa and P. vahliana; that is, the straight hairs are slightly verrucose, not smooth as in P. nivea, P. subvahliana, and P. vahliana in the narrow sense. They form populations and probably should be described as a new hybrid species.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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