Dasiphora fruticosa

Dasiphora fruticosa

Common name:

Shrubby Cinquefoil

Bush Cinquefoil

Pronunciation:

dah-SI-for-uh fru-ti-KO-sa

Family:

Rosaceae

Genus:

Synonyms:

Potentilla fruticosa

Dasiphora fruticosa subsp. fruticosa

Type:

Broadleaf

Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon:

Yes

Broadleaf deciduous shrub, 2-4 ft (0.9-1.2 m) tall, similar width, low rounded, bushy. Leaves alternate, compound pinnate, 3-7 leaflets (often 5, hence Cinquefoil, from quinque (L), five, and folium (L), leaf), each leaflet 13-20 mm x 6-12 mm, oblong-lanceolate. Flowers usually bright yellow (but white, pink, orange, and red cultivars available), each 2.5-5 cm wide, single, 5-petaled (some cultivars double), solitary or in small groups. Blooms for an long period, not overwhelming. Fruit a small brown achene, not ornamental.

Sun or light shade, tolerant of most well-drained soils, tough plant. Often left unpruned. Phillips and Barber (1981) state that potentilla "ignore conventional pruning" and the only way to rejuvenate them is to "amputate old stems to the ground".

Hardy to USDA Zone 2 Native to the Northern Hemisphere. There are many (too many?) cultivars, see Dirr (Manual of Woody Landscape Plants,1998, p. 768) for a brief description of 81 cultivars.

Taxonomic change: The name of this plant is now, Dasiphora fruticosa, it was formerly Potentilla fruticosa. The older name is still commonly accepted in the nursery trade. The genus Dasiphora includes only one species, D. fruticosa (Shrubby Cinquefoil), it ranges across the entire cool temperate Northern Hemisphere.

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Landscape Plants