Potentilla millefolia
Potentilla nana
cut-leaf cinquefoil, feather cinquefoil, feather or many-leaf or Klamath cinquefoil, many leaf cinquefoil
arctic cinquefoil, dwarf cinquefoil
usually prostrate, sometimes ± decumbent, 0.4–2(–3) dm, lengths 1–2 times basal leaves.
ascending to erect, 0.1–0.5(–0.7) dm, lengths 1–2 times 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.
not in ranks, ternate, 1–5 cm;
stipules: apex acute;
petiole 0.5–3.5 cm, long hairs sparse to abundant, ascending to spreading, 0.5–2 mm, ± soft, glands sparse to common;
leaflets 3, central obovate, 0.5–2 × 0.5–1 cm, petiolule 0–1 mm, margins revolute, not lobed, distal 1/2–2/3 evenly incised ± 1/2 to midvein, teeth 3–4(–6) per side, surfaces ± similar, green (paler abaxially), hairs sparse to abundant, 0.8–1.2 mm, glands sparse to common.
(0–)1–2.
3–6(–10)-flowered, loosely cymose, sometimes racemiform.
1(–2)-flowered.
(0.5–)1–2(–4.5) cm, ± recurved in fruit.
straight, 0.2–1.5 cm in flower, to 5 cm in fruit.
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 oblong or ovate, 2.5–5 × 1.5–3.5 mm, margins revolute;
hypanthium 3–3.5 mm diam.;
sepals 2.5–5 mm, apex ± acute;
petals pale yellow, 4–8 × 4–6 mm;
filaments 1.2–2 mm, anthers 0.3–0.4 mm;
carpels 40–50, styles ± columnar, not or scarcely papillate-swollen proximally, 0.8–1.2 mm.
1.5–2 mm, smooth, often ± carunculate.
1.4–1.6 mm.
Potentilla millefolia
Potentilla nana
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 nana has most often been considered a race of P. hyparctica or as the priority name for P. hyparctica. As now defined, P. nana occurs in an arc across southern Alaska, from the Aleutian and Pribilof islands to the Alaskan panhandle and adjacent British Columbia. T. Wolf (1908) treated it as a dwarf form of P. fragiformis; J. Soják (1996) interpreted P. nana as a hybrid species originating from cross(es) between P. fragiformis and P. hyparctica. Although the hybrid hypothesis has morphologic support, P. nana has a unique combination of morphologic features and has a distinct range from both P. fragiformis and P. hyparctica. The species are also ecologically segregated: P. nana is a coastal heath and gravel slope species, like P. hyparctica; P. fragiformis is strictly maritime coastal.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
BC
