Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Herbaceous perennials, 10-20 cm long, stems several to many, acaulescent, prostrate to spreading, hirsute to glandular, forming from a woody, branching caudex.

Leaves: Basal leaves with 5 leaflets, palmate, leaflets obovate, cuneate, deeply cleft into oblong lobes, puberulent and glandular, sparingly hirsute on the veins and margins.

Flowers: Yellow, borne in groups of 5 or less on cymose inflorescences, flowering stems spreading or prostrate, the inflorescence with numerous tack-shaped, glandular hairs, subtended by sepals alternating with leafy, sepal-like bracts, receptacles sessile, flat or shallowly saucer shaped, stamens fewer than 10, inserted in the receptacle or hypanthium margin, pistils 5 or more, styles elongate, slender, terminal.

Fruits: Achenes.

Ecology: Found in coniferous forests and mountain meadows, from 6,500-12,000 ft (1981-3658 m); flowering April-June.

Notes: The keys to this species are the basal leaves with 5 leaflets, and the inflorescence with numerous, tack-shaped, glandular hairs. The var. ramulosa is distinguished from the parent species by less deeply and more coarsely incised leaflets, and by a less strictly acaulescent habit of growth. This variety is common in Arizona.

Ethnobotany: Unknown

Etymology: Potentilla comes from Latin diminutive of potens, meaning powerful, while subviscosa means slightly sticky, and ramulosa means full of branches.

Synonyms: None

Editor: LCrumbacher, 2011