[Cinquefoils: The Genera Comarum, Dasiphora, Drymocallis and Potentilla West of the Cascade Mountains of Oregon and Washington]
Slender Cinquefoil
Potentilla gracilis var. fastigiata
Synonyms: Potentilla angustata, Potentilla blaschkeana, Potentilla blaschkeana var. blaschkeana, Potentilla etomentosa, Potentilla fastigiata, Potentilla glomerata, Potentilla gracilis var. blaschkeana, Potentilla gracilis var. glabrata, Potentilla gracilis var. nuttallii, Potentilla gracilis ssp. nuttallii, Potentilla gracilis var. permollis, Potentilla indiges, Potentilla jucunda, Potentilla nuttallii, Potentilla nuttallii var. glabrata, Potentilla nuttallii var. nuttallii, Potentilla rectiformis
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Slender cinquefoil as seen along the Pacific Crest Trail #2000 in meadows around Bee Camp, south side of Red Buttes, Klamath National Forest.........July 14, 2020.
Characteristics:
Graceful cinquefoil is a perennial with several spreading to erect stems from
40-80 cm high and fan-like leaves. The herbage is variable, ranging from sparsely
to copiously haired. The basal leaves are numerous with petioles up to 30 cm
long and the blade usually palmately compound (although it may occasionally
be pinnate). The 7-9 leaflets are oblanceolate or oblong-elliptical in shape
and 3-8 cm long and with variable leaf margins which range from coarsely toothed
with 5-6 teeth per cm to very deeply dissected almost to the midvein. The 1-2
stem leaves are smaller in size and usually consist of fewer leaflets.
The inflorescence is a many-flowered, often flat-topped cyme. The sepals are
lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate with pointed tips and are 4-10 mm long. The 5
petals are yellow and obovate-obcordate in shape. They are slightly to considerably
longer than the sepals. There are usually 20 stamens and the pistils are numerous.
Habitat:
Graceful cinquefoil may be found on moist soils in grasslands, meadows, and
in the sagebrush desert, or in moist, open woodlands.
Range:
Graceful cinquefoil may be found from Alaska south along the Pacific coast
to northern California, and south in the Sierra Nevada to Baja California. It
is found eastward to Saskatchewan and the Dakotas, and south to New Mexico and
Arizona.
Close-up of the inflorescence of slender cinquefoil as seen in plantings at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, Newport, OR.........October 8, 2009.
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Close-ups of the flower of slender cinquefoil as seen in plantings at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, Newport, OR.........October 8, 2009.
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Close-ups of the dorsal leaf surface (left) and ventral leaf surface (right) of slender cinquefoil as seen in plantings at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, Newport, OR..........October 8, 2009. Note that both surfaces are greenish, with the ventral side and margins having some long, spreading hairs. The teeth lining the margin are cut into the blade less than 2/3 of the way into the midvein.
Paul Slichter