Potentilla versicolor |
Potentilla crantzii |
|
---|---|---|
Steens Mountain cinquefoil, varying cinquefoil |
alpine cinquefoil, potentille de crantz |
|
Habit | Plants rosetted to ± matted; taproots ± fleshy-thickened. | Plants tufted to ± matted; caudex branches usually short, stout, sometimes elongate, slender. |
Stems | prostrate to ascending, (0.7–)1.5–2.5(–4) dm, lengths 2–4(–5) times basal leaves. |
ascending to erect, 0.5–2(–3) dm, lengths 1.5–3 times basal leaves. |
Basal leaves | pinnate with distal leaflets ± confluent, 4–12 × 1–2.5(–3.5) cm; petiole 1–3 cm, straight hairs absent (on early-season petioles) or sparse to common, spreading-ascending to loosely appressed, 1–2 mm, soft, cottony hairs usually absent, glands sparse; primary lateral leaflets 3–5 per side, on distal (1/3–)1/2–2/3 of leaf axis, overlapping, largest ones cuneate to flabellate, 0.5–1.5(–2) × 0.5–1.5 cm, distal 3/4 to whole margin unevenly incised 2/3 to completely to midvein (blade often medially split as well), ultimate teeth or segments 2–5(–8), ± oblanceolate, 3–11 × 1–3 mm, apical tufts to 1 mm, surfaces green to grayish green, not glaucous, straight hairs sparse to common (sparser adaxially), sometimes absent (except on margins), loosely appressed to ascending, 1–2 mm, soft, cottony hairs absent, glands sparse to common. |
2-ranked, usually palmate, sometimes ternate, 2–10(–15) cm; stipules: apex obtuse to truncate, rarely acute; petiole 0.5–6.5(–10) cm, long hairs usually ± sparse, usually ± ascending, sometimes spreading or appressed, 1–2.5 mm, weak to ± stiff, glands absent or sparse; leaflets 3–5, central obovate, 1.5–3(–3.5) × 0.8–1.5(–2) cm, petiolule 0–1 mm, margins flat, not lobed, distal 1/2–2/3 evenly incised 1/3–1/2 to midvein, teeth 3–4(–5) per side, not secondarily toothed, surfaces similar, green, not glaucous, hairs absent or sparse, rarely common, 0.8–1.5 mm, glands absent or sparse to abundant (fewer adaxially). |
Cauline leaves | 1–2(–3). |
|
Inflorescences | (1–)3–10-flowered, usually openly cymose. |
(2–)3–8(–12)-flowered. |
Pedicels | 1–3(–5) cm, straight to slightly recurved in fruit. |
straight, 1–3(–4) cm in flower, to 6 cm in fruit. |
Flowers | epicalyx bractlets lanceolate to elliptic, rarely ovate, 2–5 × 1–2 mm, sometimes apically toothed; hypanthium 3–5 mm diam.; sepals 4–7 mm, apex acute; petals 4–7 × 3–5.5 mm; filaments (1–)1.5–2.5 mm, anthers 0.5–0.8 mm; carpels 10–25, styles 2 mm. |
epicalyx bractlets ovate or narrowly ovate, (1.5–)2.5–4 × (0.8–)1–1.3 mm, margins flat; hypanthium 3–4 mm diam.; sepals (3–)4–5(–6) mm, apex broadly acute; petals yellow, 4–7(–9) × 4–8 mm; filaments 1.8–2.2 mm, anthers 0.3–0.6 mm; carpels 30–40, styles columnar-filiform, not papillate-swollen proximally, 1–1.6 mm. |
Achenes | 1.5–1.8 mm, smooth to faintly rugose, not carunculate. |
1.2 mm. |
2n | = 42; 28, 35, 49 (Europe). |
|
Potentilla versicolor |
Potentilla crantzii |
|
Phenology | Flowering summer. | Flowering spring–summer. |
Habitat | Rocky, alpine meadows, seasonally moist slopes, near streams or snowmelt | Herb meadows and slopes, usually on calcareous substrates, usually near coast |
Elevation | 2100–3200 m (6900–10500 ft) | 0–1700 m (0–5600 ft) |
Distribution |
NV; OR
|
NL; NU; ON; QC; Greenland; Eurasia [Reportedly introduced in s Australia] |
Discussion | Potentilla versicolor is most common on Steens Mountain in Harney County, Oregon. Collections are known from other mountain ranges in eastern Oregon (some possibly representing distinct taxa) and from near Island Lake in the Ruby Mountains of northeastern Nevada. The species often grows and, apparently, intergrades with P. breweri; it is usually distinct in its lack of cottony hairs. Petals, filaments, and styles tend to be somewhat shorter in P. versicolor than in P. breweri. Collections of P. versicolor have most often been identified as P. breweri, P. millefolia, or P. ovina. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Potentilla crantzii is primarily European, not restricted to coasts as in North America. The nomenclatural history is long and complex (A. Kurtto et al. in J. Jalas et al. 1972+, vol. 13), with P. alpestris and P. maculata in greatest historical use. The name P. ×protea Soják is available for presumed hybrids between P. crantzii and P. hyparctica. The emphasis on two-ranked leaves to distinguish Potentilla crantzii from P. verna follows J. Soják (pers. comm.). Some collections of P. crantzii from Newfoundland approach P. verna in their more elongate caudex branches and shorter stature. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 9, p. 171. | FNA vol. 9, p. 190. |
Parent taxa | Rosaceae > subfam. Rosoideae > tribe Potentilleae > Potentilla > sect. Multijugae | Rosaceae > subfam. Rosoideae > tribe Potentilleae > Potentilla > sect. Aureae |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Fragaria crantzii, P. alpestris, P. crantzii var. hirta, P. flabellifolia var. hirta, P. langeana, P. maculata | |
Name authority | Rydberg: in N. L. Britton et al., N. Amer. Fl. 22: 344. (1908) | (Crantz) Beck ex Fritsch: Excursionfl. Oesterreich 295. (1897) |
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