Potentilla hippiana
Potentilla saximontana
Hipp's cinquefoil, horse cinquefoil, potentille de Hipp, woolly cinquefoil
Rocky Mountains cinquefoil
(0.3–)2–4(–5) dm, lengths (1–)2–4 times basal leaves.
(0.2–)0.4–1(–1.5) dm.
pinnate to subpinnate, (3–)5–15(–25) cm;
petiole 1–10(–15) cm, long hairs abundant to dense, tightly appressed, 1–2.5 mm, stiff, short hairs absent or obscured, crisped-cottony hairs absent or sparse to common, glands absent or obscured;
leaflets not conduplicate, lateral ones evenly (to unevenly in argyrea phase) paired, (2–)3–6(–7) per side on distal (1/6–)1/5–1/2 of leaf axis, distal pairs ± decurrent, often confluent with terminal leaflet, larger leaflets oblanceolate or narrowly obovate to oblong, 1–5(–6) × 0.3–1.5 cm, distal (2/3–)3/4 to whole margin incised 1/2 or less (rarely more) to midvein, teeth (5–)7–12(–18) per side, 1–4 mm, surfaces ± to strongly dissimilar, abaxial white, long hairs abundant (mostly on, but not limited to, veins), 1–2 mm, stiff, short hairs absent or obscured, crisped-cottony hairs abundant to dense, glands absent or obscured, adaxial green to grayish, long hairs sparse to common, rarely absent, short or crisped to, sometimes, cottony hairs absent or sparse to common, glands sparse.
subpalmate to pinnate, (1–)1.5–4(–7) cm;
petiole 0.5–2(–4) cm, vestiture not or scarcely seasonally dimorphic, long hairs abundant to dense, appressed to spreading, 1–1.5(–2) mm, weak to ± stiff, cottony hairs usually absent, crisped hairs absent or sparse, glands sparse;
leaflets 3 at tip of leaf axis plus 1–2(–3) additional pairs separated from tip by 1–5 mm, on distal 1/10–1/3 of leaf axis, largest leaflets obovate to oblanceolate, 0.5–1.5 × 0.3–1.2 cm, ± whole margin incised 1/2–3/4 to midvein, teeth 2–4(–5) per side, separate to overlapping, 1–4 mm, surfaces ± dissimilar, abaxial grayish green to white, straight hairs abundant, 1–1.5 mm, cottony and crisped hairs sparse to dense, rarely absent, glands sparse or obscured, adaxial green to grayish, straight hairs sparse to abundant, 1–2 mm, cottony hairs absent or rarely sparse, crisped hairs absent or sparse, glands ± sparse.
1–2(–3).
0–1(–2).
10–30-flowered.
(1–)2–5(–10)-flowered.
0.3–3(–5) cm.
0.5–1.5 cm (proximal to 2.5 cm).
epicalyx bractlets narrowly elliptic to lanceolate, rarely linear, 2–5 × 0.5–1.5 mm, (1/2–)2/3 as long as sepals, abaxial vestiture similar to or ± sparser than sepals, usually not glabrescent, straight hairs ± abundant, crisped to sometimes ± cottony hairs absent or sparse to abundant;
hypanthium 3–7 mm diam.;
sepals 4–5.5(–6.5) mm, apex acute to acuminate;
petals 4–8 × 4–7 mm;
filaments 0.5–2.5 mm, anthers 0.6–1.1 mm;
carpels (5–)10–30, styles 1.7–2.5 mm.
epicalyx bractlets ± ovate-elliptic, 2–4 × 1–1.5 mm;
sepals 3.5–5 mm, apex bluntly acute;
petals 4–6(–8) × 4–7 mm;
filaments 0.5–2 mm, anthers 0.5 mm;
carpels 10–20+, styles columnar-filiform, papillate-swollen at base, if at all, 0.8–1.5 mm.
1.4–1.8 mm, smooth to faintly rugose.
1.5 mm.
= 42, 70, 77, 84, 98.
Potentilla hippiana
Potentilla saximontana
Potentilla hippiana is most common and distinctive in the Colorado Plateau and southern Rocky Mountains, with outliers in the mountains of Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico. Occurrences are more scattered in the northern Rocky Mountains and Great Plains, where intergradation with P. effusa is common. Among these intermediates are the argyrea phase and the single report from Idaho (B. C. Johnston 1980). Potentilla hippiana is probably adventive in Nova Scotia, eastern Ontario, Quebec, and Michigan, and possibly the Northwest Territories. The reported occurrence in central Alaska (E. Hultén 1968) is based on a specimen of P. pensylvanica (CAN).
Significant variation exists throughout the range of Potentilla hippiana, including dwarfism, leaf division, leaflet dissection, adaxial leaflet vestiture, and pedicel length. Some of this variation might merit taxonomic recognition upon further analysis, especially if correlated with ploidy level (6x through 12x). At present, the differences used to distinguish var. argyrea are not found to be sufficiently correlated with distribution to merit formal taxonomic recognition.
Complicating the infraspecific variation is a tendency for Potentilla hippiana to intergrade with other species, in particular P. effusa. Beyond sect. Leucophyllae, the frequency of hybrids with P. pulcherrima blurs the distinction between the two species; P. gracilis var. hippianoides S. L. Welsh & N. D. Atwood is probably one of the resultant intermediates.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Potentilla saximontana is a small plant of very high elevations in the mountains of Colorado, the La Sal and Uinta mountains of Utah, and the Absaroka and Beartooth mountains of Wyoming and Montana. Although sometimes confused with P. rubricaulis (for example, W. A. Weber and R. C. Wittman 1996), the subpinnate leaves, open few-flowered inflorescences, and columnar-filiform styles make P. saximontana a distinct species.
The lectotype of Potentilla nivea Linnaeus var. dissecta S. Watson [= P. saximontana var. dissecta (S. Watson) Soják] has been tentatively included in P. saximontana (B. Ertter 2008), but P. saximontana is not otherwise known from the Canadian Rockies. See B. Ertter et al. (2013) for additional discussion.
The combination Potentilla rubripes Rydberg var. saximontana (Rydberg) Th. Wolf is incorrect, in that P. saximontana is the older name.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
BC
CalFlora
MI Flora
MN Wildflowers
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
