Potentilla fruticosa

Potentilla fruticosa

Common name:

Bush Cinquefoil

Shrubby Cinquefoil

Pronunciation:

po-ten-TIL-a fru-ti-KO-sa

Family:

Rosaceae

Genus:

Synonyms:

Dasiphora 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, 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, Potentilla fruticosa, has been changed to Dasiphora fruticosa. Dasiphora is a genus of three species of shrubs in the rose family, Rosaceae, two are native to Asia, but one species, D. fruticosa (Shrubby Cinquefoil), ranges across the entire cool temperate Northern Hemisphere. It likely will be some time before the new name is accepted in the nursery trade.

Click image to enlarge

Landscape Plants