Potentilla is a genus containing over 300 species of annual, biennial and perennial herbaceous flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae. They are usually called cinquefoils in English, but they have also been called five fingers and silverweeds. Potentilla are generally only found throughout the northern continents of the world (holarctic), though some may even be found in montane biomes of the New Guinea Highlands. Several other cinquefoils formerly included here are now separated in distinct genera - notably the popular garden shrub P. fruticosa, now Dasiphora fruticosa.
Dasiphora fruticosa is a species of hardy deciduous flowering shrub in the family Rosaceae, native to the cool temperate and subarctic regions of the northern hemisphere, often growing at high altitudes in mountains. Dasiphora fruticosa is a disputed name, and the plant is still widely referenced in the horticultural literature under its synonym Potentilla fruticosa. Common names include shrubby cinquefoil, golden hardhack, bush cinquefoil, shrubby five-finger, tundra rose, and widdy.
There are 164 vascular plant species on the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. This figure does not include algae, mosses, and lichens, which are non-vascular plants. For an island so far north, 164 species constitutes an astonishing variety of plant life. Because of the harsh climate and the short growing season, all the plants are slow growing. They seldom grow higher than 10 cm.
Drymocallis arguta, commonly known as the tall cinquefoil, prairie cinquefoil, or sticky cinquefoil, is a perennial herbaceous plant native to North America. It was formerly included with the typical cinquefoils in the genus Potentilla.
Sibbaldiopsis is a genus in the plant family Rosaceae. This genus only contains a single species: Sibbaldiopsis tridentata, formerly Potentilla tridentata. Commonly, its names include three-toothed cinquefoil, shrubby fivefingers, and wineleaf. Systemic phylogenetic work has placed S. tridentata within Sibbaldia as Sibbaldia retusa.
Potentilla gracilis, known as slender cinquefoil or graceful cinquefoil, is a species of cinquefoil.
Potentilla recta, the sulphur cinquefoil or rough-fruited cinquefoil, is a species of cinquefoil. It is native to Eurasia but it is present in North America as an introduced species, ranging through almost the entire continent except the northernmost part of Canada and Alaska.
Drymocallis is a genus of plants formerly included with the typical cinquefoils (Potentilla). It contains three species known or suspected to be protocarnivorous, but more cinquefoils might eventually be moved here:
Corythucha tuthilli is a little-known species of lace bug Tingidae native to Colorado and Arizona.
Potentilla drummondii is a species of cinquefoil known by the common name Drummond's cinquefoil. It is native to North America from Alaska to California, where it grows in many types of moist habitat. It is perhaps better described as a species complex containing many intergrading subspecies that readily hybridize with other Potentilla species. The plant is variable, growing decumbent or erect, small and tufted or up to 60 centimeters tall, hairless to woolly. The leaves are divided into several leaflets, which may be cut into lobes or toothed. The inflorescence is a cyme of several flowers. Each has a small corolla of yellow petals, each petal one half to one centimeter in length.
Potentilla newberryi is a species of cinquefoil known by the common name Newberry's cinquefoil. It is native to the Pacific Northwest of the United States from Washington to the northeastern Modoc Plateau in California and Nevada.
Potentilla norvegica is a species of cinquefoil known by the common names rough cinquefoil, ternate-leaved cinquefoil, and Norwegian cinquefoil. It is native to Europe, Asia, and parts of North America, and it can be found elsewhere as an introduced species.
Potentilla pseudosericea is a species of cinquefoil known by the common names silky cinquefoil and Mono cinquefoil. It is native to the Sierra Nevada of California and mountain ranges just to the east, where its distribution extends into Nevada. It grows in rocky mountainous habitat. It is a small plant forming mats or tufts in rock cracks and talus, its short stem growing from a caudex. The leaves are generally palmate, divided into five leaflets. The leaflets are deeply lobed along the edges and woolly in texture, coated in white or silvery hairs. The inflorescence is a cluster of a few yellow flowers with petals around 3 millimeters long each.
Potentilla villosa is a species of flowering plant in the rose family, Rosaceae. Its common names include villous cinquefoil, northern cinquefoil, and hairy cinquefoil. It is native to northwestern North America, where its distribution extends from Alaska to Alberta to Oregon. There are records from eastern Asia.
Astragalus montii is a rare species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common name heliotrope milkvetch. It is endemic to Utah in the United States, where there are only three known populations. It is a federally listed threatened species of the United States. This species is often treated as a variety of Astragalus limnocharis.
Potentilla hippiana is a species of flowering plant in the rose family known by the common names woolly cinquefoil, horse cinquefoil, and Hipp's cinquefoil. It is native to North America, where it occurs in western Canada and the western United States. It occurs in eastern Canada and the US state of Michigan as an introduced species.
Physaria fremontii is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common name Fremont's bladderpod. It is endemic to Wyoming in the United States, where it occurs only in and around the Wind River Range in Fremont County.
