Nuttall cinquefoil, a herbaceous perennial from a woody taproot, 

 belongs to the rose family (Rosaceae) and was named in remem- 

 brance o.f Nuttall (1786-1859), an Englishman by birth, who devel- 

 oped into a preeminent botanist in this country. Nuttall collected 

 many plants along the Oregon trail and throughout the Northwest. 

 The plant under discussion is characteristic of many species of Po- 

 tentilla and is widely distributed over the western ranges, extending 

 from British Columbia to Saskatchewan and southward to Colorado 

 and California. This plant is most abundant in Utah, Idaho, and 

 western Montana, being found only sparsely in eastern and northern 

 California. 



Nuttall cinquefoil grows most abundantly and luxuriantly in the 

 rich, porous loams or meadows and open parks, where it is a con- 

 spicuous component of the mixed grass-weed type, being associated 

 with bluegrasses, western yarrow, needlegrasses, sedges, geraniums, 

 and muhly grasses. Occasionally, it becames the dominant species, 

 but seldom occurs in pure stands. Although preferring the better 

 sites, it appears sparsely on the dry, sandy, gravelly, or clay loams 

 of mountain slopes, among sagebrush, in open aspen and Douglas 

 fir, as well as along moist canyon bottoms from 4,500 to 9,000 feet 

 above sea level and from the sagebrush belt up to the lower reaches 

 of the spruce-fir zone. The forage value of this species, although 

 usually low, varies considerably with the locality. In general, how- 

 ever, it is nibbled season long, to a certain extent, by all classes of 

 livestock, except horses, ranking as poor to fair forage for sheep, 

 poor for cattle, and poor to fair for deer and elk. Sheep crop the 

 leaves and flower heads, but tend to discriminate against the some- 

 what woody stems, especially during the late summer. Cattle graze 

 the plant lightly ; horses occasionally crop the flower heads. Nuttall 

 cinquefoil apparently is more palatable on ranges where it occurs 

 in sparse intermixture with abundant other forage. However, this 

 plant, as is the rule in Potentillcb, presumably contains considerable 

 tannic acid which, almost unquestionably, provides its character- 

 istic acrid-astringent taste. This peculiar bitter flavor of the herb- 

 age is doubtless correlated with the rather low palatability of this 

 species. 



Nuttall cinquefoil is a very aggressive plant; it withstands heavy 

 trampling and invades ranges readily when the more palatable and 

 less resistant species are weakened by continued heavy utilization. 

 On a number of overgrazed areas this plant has increased markedly, 

 even becoming moderately abundant. 



This species is usually an erect herb, growing from 18 to 32 inches 

 high but, on heavily trampled areas, becomes prostrate or creeping 

 and, frequently, almost matlike. Even under severe conditions this 

 plant flowers profusely and produces an abundance of seed which 

 appears to be of high viability. Once established, these plants are 

 very tenacious; their deep taproots and extensive lateral roots 

 enable them to withstand considerable drought. 



