Potentilla gracilis var. flabelliformis

Native

Dry to moist. Prairies, woods.

July to August

Yellow

16″ to 32″

This is a 16″ to 32″ tall, erect, perennial forb that rises on usually several stems from a thick, branched caudex.

The stems are erect or ascending, stout, and hairy.

Most of the leaves are basal. Basal leaves are on long, hairy stalks. The are palmately divided into 5, 7, or 9 leaflets. The leaflets are ¾″ to 4¾″ long, though usually 1″ to 3″ long, and inversely lance-shaped or narrowly inversely egg-shaped with the attachment at the narrow end. The upper surface is green and often hairless. The lower surface is densely covered with white, short, matted or tangled, woolly hairs. Neither surface has glandular hairs. The margins are deeply toothed around the entire margin, including near the base. The teeth are narrow, cut ⅔ of the way to the midrib, and are often considered lobes. The margins of these teeth/lobes are somewhat rolled backward toward the underside. Stem leaves are few, often just 1 or 2, alternate, and similar to the basal leaves, but smaller and often with only 3 leaflets.

The inflorescence is a flattened, open, branched cluster of many flowers at the end of the stem.

The flowers are ½″ to ¾″ wide. The 5 petals are yellow, inversely heart-shaped, broadest at the tip with two rounded lobes separated by a broad notch, and tapering to a narrow, wedge-shaped base. The 5 green sepals are almost as long as the petals and alternate with the petals. The 5 bractlets are much shorter than the sepals when the flower is fully open. They alternate with the sepals and are hidden below the petals when the flower is viewed from above. There are 20 yellow stamens. There is no floral scent.