Potentilla sect. Lupinoides
mostly ± prostrate, not flagelliform, not rooting at nodes, intermixed in persistent basal rosettes, 0.4–1(–1.5) dm, lengths 0.5–1 times basal leaves, longer non-flowering often developing, sometimes rooting at nodes and forming new basal rosettes.
basal not in ranks;
cauline (flowering stems) 0–2;
primary leaves ternate [palmate], (2–)6–10(–20) cm;
petiole: long hairs spreading, weak, glands absent or sparse;
leaflets 3[–7], at tip of leaf axis, overlapping, broadly elliptic to obovate, margins flat, distal 1/2–3/4 evenly incised 1/4 or less to midvein [entire], teeth (3–)4–7 per side, surfaces ± similar, green (abaxial often paler), not glaucous, long hairs weak, cottony hairs absent.
solitary flowers or 2–3-flowered, ± cymose, open.
often recurved in fruit, 1–3 cm, proximal not much longer than distal.
5-merous;
hypanthium 3–5 mm diam.;
petals white, usually obcordate, 4–7 mm, equal to or slightly longer than sepals, apex usually ± retuse;
stamens ca. 20;
styles subapical, filiform, not papillate-swollen proximally, 1.5–2 mm.
faintly rugose.
Potentilla sect. Lupinoides
Species 6 (1 in the flora).
Section Lupinoides belongs to the Alba clade of M. H. Töpel et al. (2011), which is an early radiation of Potentilla in southern Europe and southwestern Asia (C. Dobeš and J. Paule 2010). In addition to the species included here, P. alba Linnaeus has been reported in Massachusetts (B. A. Sorrie 2005) and Connecticut; it has apparently not become naturalized. Plants of P. alba are not stoloniferous and the five leaflets are nearly entire.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
