Silver Cinquefoil

Description

Potentilla argentea, known as hoary cinquefoil, silver cinquefoil, silvery cinquefoil, or silver-leaf cinquefoil, is a perennial herb in the family Rosaceae. Potentilla argentea is native to Europe, Asia Minor, and Siberia, and is introduced throughout temperate areas in North America and in New Zealand. The basal leaves are palmate, generally in groups of five, grey-green above and silvery-white and tomentose below. With multiple flowers per plant, the flowers bloom a few at a time from late Spring to mid-Summer. Flowers are about 1 to 1.5 cm wide, and are five-petaled, with the petals rounded, wedge-shaped, and separated, sulpher-yellow coloured, in leafy cymes. Its growth habit is upright or sprawling, to 0.5 m high. Potentilla argentea thrives in sunny, disturbed, and well-drained areas at elevations from sea level to 2000 m. Potentilla is a genus containing over 300 species of annual, biennial and perennial herbaceous flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae. Potentillas may also be called cinquefoils in English, but they have also been called five fingers and silverweeds. Some species are called tormentils, though this is often used specifically for common tormentil (P. erecta). Others are referred to as barren strawberries, which may also refer to P. sterilis in particular, or to the closely related Waldsteinia fragarioides. Several other cinquefoils formerly included here are now separated in distinct genera - notably the popular garden shrub P. fruticosa, now Dasiphora fruticosa. Potentillas are generally found throughout the northern continents of the world, though some occur in montane biomes of the New Guinea Highlands. Typical cinquefoils look most similar to strawberries, but differ in usually having dry, inedible fruit (hence the name "barren strawberry" for some species). Many cinquefoil species have palmate leaves. Some species have just three leaflets, while others have 15 or more leaflets arranged pinnately. The flowers are usually yellow, but may be white, pinkish or red. The accessory fruits are usually dry but may be fleshy and strawberry-like, while the actual seeds – each one technically a single fruit – are tiny nuts. Among the Rosaceae, cinquefoils are close relatives of avens and roses, and even closer relatives of agrimonies. Yet more closely related to Potentilla are lady's mantles (Alchemilla) and strawberries. Dryas is a more distantly related genus, long-held beliefs notwithstanding.