104 



ROSACEAE 



POTENTILLA FRUTICOSA Linnaeus 

 Shrubby Cinquefoil 



The Shrubby Cinquefoil, fig. 23, is a small, more or less 

 erect shrub, which commonly grows 1 to 3 feet high and is 

 much branched. The stem is covered by light reddish-brown, 

 shreddy bark, and the branches are densely covered with long 

 hair. The leaves are pinnately compound and consist generally 

 of 5 but sometimes of 3 or 7 sessile leaflets, which are oblong 

 or oblong-ovate, acute at the tip, narrowed at the base, and 

 silky pubescent on both faces. The margin of the leaflet is entire 

 and revolute. 



Flowers appear from July to September, and vary in color 

 from light yellow to orange. The fruit is a head, consisting of 

 many carpels or achenes less than one-sixteenth inch long, which 

 are dry and hard and covered with long hairs. 



Distribution. — The Shrubby Cinquefoil, typically a bog or 

 marsh plant, ranges from Labrador to Alaska and south to 

 New Jersey and California. Although it often has been col- 

 lected in Illinois, its distribution seems definitely limited to the 

 northeastern corner of the state, including Cook and Lake 



FIG. 23 

 Potentilla fruticosa 



