View sketch

Shrubby Cinquefoil, Potentilla fruticosa L.
Rosaceae

Erect, dense, scrubby looking shrub, 0.2-1.3 m high. Older bark is reddish-brown and shreddy. New branches are light reddish-brown and densely hairy.

Buds: About 6 mm long and brownish, covered by persistent raised leaf scars and stipules. Bud scales are papery and dry, the outer scales barely covering the inner, pre-formed leaves.

Leaves: Alternate and crowded on the stem. Pinnately compound with 5-7 leaflets, 1.3-2.5 cm long, narrowly oblong to lanceolate and sharp-pointed. Both surfaces have white, silky hairs. The undersurface is whitened and densely hairy.

Flowers: Solitary, or in few-flowered clusters, each bright yellow, 1-2.5 cm across, with five rounded petals and 15-20 stamens. Blooms from early July to mid-September.

Fruit: Consists of many small seeds clustered to form dense heads about 6 mm across, enclosed by persistent calyx lobes. They remain throughout the winter.

Habitat: Wet places – fens, shores of ponds and brooks, edges of woods, wet heaths, roadsides. Less common on dry rocky barrens and limestone talus. Found throughout Newfoundland and southern and central Labrador.

Source: Native Trees and Shrubs of Newfoundland and Labrador
By A. Glen Ryan
Parks and Natural Areas Division
Department of Environment and Conservation
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador 1995
Used with permission.