Potentilla norvegica
Encyclopedia
Potentilla norvegica is a species of cinquefoil
known by the common names rough cinquefoil and Norwegian cinquefoil. It is native to Eurasia. It grows in many types of habitat, including disturbed, weedy areas.
It is present throughout North America, where it is an introduced species
of the continent.
, then a green or red stem growing erect up to about 70 centimeters in maximum length. The leaves are usually ternate, divided into three leaflets. Each leaflet may be up to 5 centimeters long and is widely lance-shaped with toothed edges.
The inflorescence
is a cyme of several flowers. Each flower has five rounded yellow petals no more than 4 millimeters long on a calyx of hairy, pointed sepal
s with reddish tips.
Potentilla
Potentilla is the genus of typical cinquefoils, containing about 500 species of annual, biennial and perennial herbs in the rose family Rosaceae. They are generally Holarctic in distribution, though some may even be found in montane biomes of the New Guinea Highlands...
known by the common names rough cinquefoil and Norwegian cinquefoil. It is native to Eurasia. It grows in many types of habitat, including disturbed, weedy areas.
It is present throughout North America, where it is an introduced species
Introduced species
An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
of the continent.
Description
This cinquefoil, Potentilla norvegica, may be annual or perennial. It produces a basal rosette of leaves from a taprootTaproot
A taproot is an enlarged, somewhat straight to tapering plant root that grows vertically downward. It forms a center from which other roots sprout laterally.Plants with taproots are difficult to transplant...
, then a green or red stem growing erect up to about 70 centimeters in maximum length. The leaves are usually ternate, divided into three leaflets. Each leaflet may be up to 5 centimeters long and is widely lance-shaped with toothed edges.
The inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
is a cyme of several flowers. Each flower has five rounded yellow petals no more than 4 millimeters long on a calyx of hairy, pointed sepal
Sepal
A sepal is a part of the flower of angiosperms . Collectively the sepals form the calyx, which is the outermost whorl of parts that form a flower. Usually green, sepals have the typical function of protecting the petals when the flower is in bud...
s with reddish tips.