Marsh Cinquefoil, Purple Cinquefoil, Purple Marshlocks

Comarum palustre

Synonyms: Comarum palustris var. villosum, Potentilla palustris, Potentilla palustris var. parvifolia, Potentilla palustris var. villosa, Potentilla palustris var. villosum

The photo at left shows a close-up of the reddish-tinged sepals of marsh cinquefoil. Note the narrow, much smaller reddish petals between each sepal. Photographed in moist wetlands along the Willard Springs , Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge...........July 31, 2008. The photo at right shows a close-up of the flower of marsh cinquefoil as seen in moist wetlands along the Willard Springs Trail, Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge......June 11, 2020.

Marsh cinquefoil is rhizomatous perennial with reddish stems to 1 meter in length which either ascend, float, or are prostrate on the ground where roots may take hold at the nodes. The herbage is smooth-surfaced below and becoming hairy and purplish-glandular above. The basal leaves are pinnately compound with 5-7 obovate, oblong, or elliptic-oblong leaflets from 3-6 cm long. The margins are toothed, and the upper surface is light green while the lower surface is paler with a few to numerous silky hairs.

The flowers are in open cymes, the 5 petals purple or a deep wine red color. Individual petals are ovate-lanceolate to elliptic or spatulate with pointed tips. The 5 sepals are ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate in shape, 7-11 mm long, and with pointed tips. There are about 25 stamens and many pistils.

Marsh cinquefoil is found in wet meadows, marshes, bogs, and along the banks of creeks and margins from sea level to subalpine habitats.

Marsh cinquefoil may be found from Alaska south along the Pacific coast to northern California and east to Labrador and Greenland, Ohio, Iowa, and Wyoming.

Close-ups of the flowers of marsh cinquefoil as seen in wetlands along the Willard Springs Trail, Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge...........June 20, 2013.

A close-up sideview of the flower of marsh cinquefoil. Note the numerous clustered pistils with their long stigmas at the center of the flower plus the numerous spatulate stamens that ring the pistils. Photographed in moist wetlands along the Willard Springs Trai , Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge..........July 31, 2008.

Marsh cinqueoil as seen in moist wetlands along the Willard Springs Trail, Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge.........May 24, 2016.

The 2 photos above show additional close-ups of the flowers of marsh cinquefoil as seen at Willard Springs in Conboy Lake NWR.............July 31, 2008. Click on each photo to see an enlarged version.

The photo above shows the reddish-tinged sepals of marsh cinquefoil. Photographed in moist wetlands along the Willard Springs Trail, Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge..........July 28, 2006.

The photo above shows the reddish-tinged sepals of marsh cinquefoil. Photographed in moist wetlands along the Willard Springs Trail, Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge..........July 2, 2007.

The glaucous dorsal surface of a leaf of marsh cinquefoil..........July 28, 2006.

The photo above shows a stem of marsh cinquefoil spreading across a small irrigation channel near the Willard Springs Trail in Conboy National Wildlife Refuge...........September 30, 2006.