Common cinquefoil
Prepared by Jennifer L. D’Appollonio, Assistant Scientist, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469. Updated February 2018.
Scientific name: Potentilla simplex Michx.
Common name(s): common cinquefoil, oldfield cinquefoil
Links: USDA PLANTS Profile, NPIN Profile, Go Botany
Images: (to see enlargements [PC]: click on image, then right click and choose “view image”)
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- early May
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- end of May
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- sepal detail
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- in flower, early to mid-June
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- vines
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- leaflets are toothed 3/4 down
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- flower detail
Description:
– perennial
-Rosaceae family
-stolons turn red with age
-Short rootstocks give way to slender stems that run 3′ or less along the ground.
-leaves have:
- compound
- alternate
- Five leaflets toothed for 3/4 of their length
- 3/4″-2 1/2″ long.
-Flowers 1/4″-1/2″ wide with yellow petals on long stalks arising from leaf axis.
– may be confused with P. canadensis; see left sidebar of Go Botany webpage
Habitat:
-disturbed sites
-meadows
-fields
Sources:
Go Botany. “Potentilla Simplex Michx.” Potentilla Simplex (Common Cinquefoil, Old-Field Cinquefoil): Go Botany, 2020, gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/potentilla/simplex/.