[Cinquefoils: The Genera Comarum, Dasiphora, Drymocallis and Potentilla in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon and Washington]
Yellow Rose, Shrubby Cinquefoil
Dasiphora fruticosa
Synonyms: Dasiphora floribunda, Dasiphora fruticosa ssp. floribunda, Dasiphora riparia, Fragaria fruticosa, Pentaphylloides floribunda, Pentaphylloides fruticosa, Potentilla floribunda, Potentilla fruticosa, Potentilla fruticosa ssp. floribunda, Potentila fruticosa var. farreri, Potentilla fruticosa var. tenuifolia
Shrubby
cinquefoil blooming at a high point in the middle of Parachute Meadows, Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest........July 29, 2018.
The photo at right shows a close-up of the flower of shrubby cinquefoil as seen from
Little Mt. Adams, Tract D Yakama Nation lands........July 17, 2006.
Characteristics:
Shrubby cinquefoil is a much-branched, deciduous shrub with
a spreading to erect habit. It may attain a height of 10 to 160 cm. The leaves
are numerous, alternate and pinnately compound, generally having 5 narrow elliptical,
entire leaflets. Individual leaflets are 1 to 2 cm in length, and covered with
grayish, silky-pilose hairs. The bark is reddish brown, and frequently shreds.
The flowers are either single in the leaf axils or in loose
terminal cymes of 3 to 9 flowers. Individual flowers are bright yellow, showy
and about 2.5 cm across. The hypanthium is saucer-shaped and surrounde by sepal-like
bracts. The petals are longer than the sepal-like bracts.A large central cluster
of numerous pistils and approximately 25 to 30 stamens are found mid-flower.
The fruits are numerous single-seeded achenes covered with silky hairs.
Shrubby cinquefoil is a beautiful shrub in the wilds, and has
been cultivated extensively. It should be readily found at many western nurseries.
Habitat:
Shrubby cinquefoil is found in a variety of habitats. It is
a bog and muskeg plant in the tundra, and is found in the subalpine zone in
northern British Columbia. To the south, it is a mat-forming alpine plant in
the Cascades, and inhabits meadows in the sagebrush desert east of the Cascades.
It is primarily subalpine in the Olympic Mts.
Range:
Shrubby cinquefoil is a widespread montane species, found from
Alaska southward through the Cascade and Olympic Mountains to the Sierra Nevada,
and eastward on the plains to subalpine slopes to Colorado, New Mexico, further
northeast to Iowa, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Labrador.
The photo above shows a small branch of shrubby
cinquefoil with its pinnately 5-lobed leaves and several flowers as seen on
Little Mt. Adams, Tract D Yakama Nation lands........July 17, 2006.
Shrubby cinquefoil as seen on cinder slopes
of Little Mt. Adams on the east side of Mt. Adams, Tract D Yakama Nation lands........July
17, 2006. The white, tubular flowers of Parry's catchfly can be seen at left.
Shrubby cinquefoil found west of Sunrise, Mt. Rainier National
Park....mid August, 1996.
Paul Slichter