Potentilla versicolor |
Potentilla saximontana |
|
---|---|---|
Steens Mountain cinquefoil, varying cinquefoil |
Rocky Mountains cinquefoil |
|
Habit | Plants rosetted to ± matted; taproots ± fleshy-thickened. | |
Stems | prostrate to ascending, (0.7–)1.5–2.5(–4) dm, lengths 2–4(–5) times basal leaves. |
(0.2–)0.4–1(–1.5) dm. |
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. |
subpalmate to pinnate, (1–)1.5–4(–7) cm; petiole 0.5–2(–4) cm, vestiture not or scarcely seasonally dimorphic, long hairs abundant to dense, appressed to spreading, 1–1.5(–2) mm, weak to ± stiff, cottony hairs usually absent, crisped hairs absent or sparse, glands sparse; leaflets 3 at tip of leaf axis plus 1–2(–3) additional pairs separated from tip by 1–5 mm, on distal 1/10–1/3 of leaf axis, largest leaflets obovate to oblanceolate, 0.5–1.5 × 0.3–1.2 cm, ± whole margin incised 1/2–3/4 to midvein, teeth 2–4(–5) per side, separate to overlapping, 1–4 mm, surfaces ± dissimilar, abaxial grayish green to white, straight hairs abundant, 1–1.5 mm, cottony and crisped hairs sparse to dense, rarely absent, glands sparse or obscured, adaxial green to grayish, straight hairs sparse to abundant, 1–2 mm, cottony hairs absent or rarely sparse, crisped hairs absent or sparse, glands ± sparse. |
Cauline leaves | 1–2(–3). |
0–1(–2). |
Inflorescences | (1–)3–10-flowered, usually openly cymose. |
(1–)2–5(–10)-flowered. |
Pedicels | 1–3(–5) cm, straight to slightly recurved in fruit. |
0.5–1.5 cm (proximal to 2.5 cm). |
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-elliptic, 2–4 × 1–1.5 mm; sepals 3.5–5 mm, apex bluntly acute; petals 4–6(–8) × 4–7 mm; filaments 0.5–2 mm, anthers 0.5 mm; carpels 10–20+, styles columnar-filiform, papillate-swollen at base, if at all, 0.8–1.5 mm. |
Achenes | 1.5–1.8 mm, smooth to faintly rugose, not carunculate. |
1.5 mm. |
Potentilla versicolor |
Potentilla saximontana |
|
Phenology | Flowering summer. | Flowering summer. |
Habitat | Rocky, alpine meadows, seasonally moist slopes, near streams or snowmelt | Alpine tundra and meadows, rocky slopes, talus |
Elevation | 2100–3200 m [6900–10500 ft] | 3200–4100 m [10500–13500 ft] |
Distribution |
NV; OR
|
CO; MT; UT; WY |
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 saximontana is a small plant of very high elevations in the mountains of Colorado, the La Sal and Uinta mountains of Utah, and the Absaroka and Beartooth mountains of Wyoming and Montana. Although sometimes confused with P. rubricaulis (for example, W. A. Weber and R. C. Wittman 1996), the subpinnate leaves, open few-flowered inflorescences, and columnar-filiform styles make P. saximontana a distinct species. The lectotype of Potentilla nivea Linnaeus var. dissecta S. Watson [= P. saximontana var. dissecta (S. Watson) Soják] has been tentatively included in P. saximontana (B. Ertter 2008), but P. saximontana is not otherwise known from the Canadian Rockies. See B. Ertter et al. (2013) for additional discussion. The combination Potentilla rubripes Rydberg var. saximontana (Rydberg) Th. Wolf is incorrect, in that P. saximontana is the older name. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 9, p. 171. | FNA vol. 9, p. 166. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Rydberg: in N. L. Britton et al., N. Amer. Fl. 22: 344. (1908) | Rydberg: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 23: 399. (1896) |
Web links |