Potentilla millefolia |
Potentilla bipinnatifida |
|
---|---|---|
cut-leaf cinquefoil, feather cinquefoil, feather or many-leaf or Klamath cinquefoil, many leaf cinquefoil |
bipinnate cinquefoil, potentille bipinnatifide, tansy cinquefoil |
|
Habit | Plants ± rosetted; taproots fleshy-thickened. | |
Stems | usually prostrate, sometimes ± decumbent, 0.4–2(–3) dm, lengths 1–2 times basal leaves. |
ascending to erect, (1–)2–5 dm. |
Basal leaves | pinnate with distal leaflets ± confluent, 2–15(–20) × 1–3 cm; petiole 0.5–2(–3) cm, straight hairs sparse to abundant, appressed to spreading, 0.5–1.5 mm, stiff, cottony hairs absent, glands absent or sparse; primary lateral leaflets (3–)5–13 per side, on distal 2/3–3/4+ of leaf axis, separate to overlapping, largest ones cuneate to flabellate, 0.5–1.5(–2) × 0.5–2 cm, distal 2/3 to whole margin palmately or unevenly, rarely pinnately, incised 2/3 to completely to midvein, ultimate teeth or segments (1–)2–10, linear to broadly oblanceolate, 2–10 × (0.5–)1–2 mm, apical tufts to 1 mm, surfaces green to grayish green, not glaucous, straight hairs sparse to abundant, appressed to spreading, 0.5–1.5(–2) mm, stiff, cottony hairs absent, glands sparse to common. |
subpinnate to subpalmate, (6–)10–25 cm; petiole (2–)5–15 cm, long hairs dense, appressed, 1–2 mm, soft to ± stiff, short hairs absent, crisped hairs sparse, glands absent, sparse, or obscured; leaflets 2–3 per side, on distal 1/6–1/3(–1/2) of leaf axis, separate to ± overlapping, terminal ones oblanceolate, (2–)3–6(–10) × 1–2(–3.5) cm, margins revolute, incised 3/4+ to midvein, undivided medial blade 1.5–6 mm wide, teeth 5–8 per side, ± linear, surfaces ± to strongly dissimilar, abaxial usually white, rarely grayish, long hairs abundant especially on veins, 1–2 mm, ± weak, short hairs absent or obscured, cottony (and crisped) hairs ± dense, glands absent or obscured, adaxial green to grayish, long hairs sparse to abundant, loosely appressed, 0.5–1.5 mm, short hairs absent or sparse, crisped and/or cottony hairs sparse to common, glands sparse to common. |
Cauline leaves | (0–)1–2. |
2–4. |
Inflorescences | 3–6(–10)-flowered, loosely cymose, sometimes racemiform. |
(4–)10–50(–100)-flowered, congested or elongating in fruit. |
Pedicels | (0.5–)1–2(–4.5) cm, ± recurved in fruit. |
0.2–0.8 cm (proximal to 2 cm). |
Flowers | epicalyx bractlets ± elliptic, 2–4(–6) × 1–2(–2.5) mm; hypanthium 3–6 mm diam.; sepals 4–6(–8) mm, apex acute; petals 4–8(–10) × 3–7(–9) mm; filaments 2–3.5 mm, anthers 0.7–1 mm; carpels 10–30, styles (1.5–)2–3 mm. |
epicalyx bractlets narrowly elliptic to lanceolate, 2.5–6 mm, lengths ± 2/3 times sepals, margins flat; hypanthium 3–5 mm diam.; sepals 3–6 mm, apex ± acute, abaxial surfaces: venation indistinct, glands absent, sparse, or obscured; petals yellow, 3–5 × 3–4 mm, lengths ± equal to sepals; filaments 0.5–2 mm, anthers 0.3–0.5 mm; carpels 50–80, styles papillate-swollen in proximal 1/2–3/4+, 1–1.2 mm. |
Achenes | 1.5–2 mm, smooth, often ± carunculate. |
1–1.2 mm, smooth to faintly rugose. |
2n | = 56. |
|
Potentilla millefolia |
Potentilla bipinnatifida |
|
Phenology | Flowering spring–summer. | Flowering summer. |
Habitat | Vernally to permanently wet meadows, moist openings in conifer forests and sagebrush, alkaline flats | Open shortgrass prairie, alkaline bottoms, streamsides in sagebrush, disturbed sites |
Elevation | 700–2200 m (2300–7200 ft) | 10–3400 m (0–11200 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; NV; OR
|
AK; CO; ID; MI; MN; MT; ND; NE; NM; SD; UT; WY; AB; MB; NT; ON; QC; SK; YT
|
Discussion | Potentilla millefolia occurs from central Oregon to the east side of the Sierra Nevada of California, with a disjunct occurrence on the alkaline flats of Reese River Valley, Nevada. Significant variation occurs in vestiture type, leaflet dissection, and flower size, but with minimal geographic correlation. The most distinctive variant, represented by the type of P. klamathensis, has relatively long, slender, spreading, pustule-based hairs, often intermixed with shorter hairs. This vestiture type does not appear to be correlated with any other characters or geographic distribution and may vary within a population. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Potentilla bipinnatifida is similar to P. litoralis in habit and leaf dissection but has flat, silky epicalyx bractlets and sepals with no evident glands. Vestiture is generally silkier, and the silvery to bicolor leaves are white-cottony abaxially. The two species are sympatric in the plains of Canada, with some intergradation; P. bipinnatifida is also common south to Colorado, where it is found in intermontane meadows and sagebrush flats. Outlying populations occur in Blaine and Custer counties, Idaho, and Duchesne and Piute counties, Utah. Eastern collections from disturbed sites might be adventive. Potentilla missourica Hornemann ex Lindley and P. normalis Besser ex Sprengel are older names for this species; both were rejected against a conserved P. bipinnatifida with designated lectotypes (see J. Soják 2008b). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 9, p. 174. | FNA vol. 9, p. 217. |
Parent taxa | Rosaceae > subfam. Rosoideae > tribe Potentilleae > Potentilla > sect. Multijugae | Rosaceae > subfam. Rosoideae > tribe Potentilleae > Potentilla > sect. Pensylvanicae |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | P. klamathensis, P. millefolia var. klamathensis, P. plattensis var. klamathensis, P. plattensis var. millefolia | P. pensylvanica var. bipinnatifida |
Name authority | Rydberg: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 23: 433, plate 277, figs. 1–5. (1896) | Douglas: in W. J. Hooker, Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 188. (1832) |
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