Potentilla millefolia
Potentilla villosa
cut-leaf cinquefoil, feather cinquefoil, feather or many-leaf or Klamath cinquefoil, many leaf cinquefoil
hairy cinquefoil, northern cinquefoil, villous cinquefoil
stout, sometimes short-columnar, not sheathed with marcescent whole leaves.
usually prostrate, sometimes ± decumbent, 0.4–2(–3) dm, lengths 1–2 times basal leaves.
ascending, 0.5–2(–2.5) dm, lengths 1.5–3 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.
2–12(–15) cm;
petiole 1–9(–12) cm, long hairs ± abundant to dense, spreading to ascending, 1–2.5(–3) mm, soft to weak, smooth, crisped hairs absent or sparse, cottony hairs absent, glands sparse to common, sometimes obscured;
leaflets usually ± overlapping, central broadly obovate to suborbiculate, (0.5–)1.5–2.5(–3) × (0.5–)1.5–2.6(–3.2) cm, sessile to subsessile, base cuneate to rounded, margins revolute, distal 1/2–2/3(–3/4) incised 1/4–1/2 to midvein, teeth 3–6(–7) per side, ± approximate to ± distant, surfaces ± dissimilar, abaxial yellowish or grayish white, long hairs 1–2 mm, cottony-crisped hairs ± dense, adaxial grayish green, long hairs abundant to dense, crisped hairs absent, sparse, or obscured.
(0–)1–2.
(0–)1–2.
3–6(–10)-flowered, loosely cymose, sometimes racemiform.
(1–)2–7(–10)-flowered.
(0.5–)1–2(–4.5) cm, ± recurved in fruit.
0.5–3(–4) cm in flower, to 4 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 ovate to oval-elliptic, 3–8 × 2–5 mm, 2/3 to as wide as sepals, margins strongly revolute, red glands absent;
hypanthium 5–7 mm diam.;
sepals 4–8 mm, apex ± acute;
petals (5–)7–15 × 7–16 mm, significantly longer than sepals;
filaments 1.8–2.1 mm, anthers 0.7–0.8 mm;
carpels 150–250, apical hairs usually absent, rarely present (cottony), styles narrowly conic to tapered, ± papillate-swollen on proximal 1/5–1/2, 0.9–1.1 mm.
1.5–2 mm, smooth, often ± carunculate.
0.9–1.3 mm.
= 14.
Potentilla millefolia
Potentilla villosa
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 villosa is the only documented diploid species of sect. Niveae in North America and, almost certainly, it is fully sexual. It is a characteristic species of coarse-grained beaches and coastal cliffs from southwestern British Columbia to western Alaska and the Russian Far East, and also occurs on scattered mountains in the Olympic Peninsula and Cascade Range of Washington and Oregon (providing the higher elevational extreme). These southern populations, which have been called var. parviflora, tend to be smaller, more delicate, less hairy plants in general, with fewer and smaller flowers. At least some plants in some southern populations also have cottony hairs on the carpels.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA- Local floras:
BC, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites:
Flora NW, 
PNW Herbaria 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
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