Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Subshrub

General: Perennial from scaly rootstocks, glandular-pubescent throughout, 30-60 cm tall.

Leaves: Pinnately compound, basal leaves 3-22 cm long, 5-9 foliolate, leaflets obovate to broadly ovate, coarsely serrate margins to doubly dentate, green with various pubescent or glandular on both surfaces, cauline leaves 3-5 foliolate.

Flowers: In open flat-topped cyme, several to many flowers, 5 sepals 5.5-9 mm long, lance-ovate, often acuminate, bracteoles 4.5-7 mm long, oblong to narrowly lanceolate, 5 petals mainly yellow slightly exceeding the sepals, generally 4-7.5 mm long, hypanthium glandular hirsute, 20-30 stamens, the styles basal.

Fruits: Numerous glabrous achenes about 1 mm long.

Ecology: Found in wet meadows and other sites with wet soils from 5,000-9,000 ft (1524-2743 m); flowers May-July.

Notes: Distinguished from other Potentilla by the divergent inflorescence branches and the bright lemon yellow flowers, this is a fairly common plant.

Ethnobotany: Used for swollen body parts, taken as a tonic, a stimulant, and as a tonic for well being.

Etymology: Potentilla comes from Latin diminutive of potens, meaning powerful, while glandulosa means provided with glands.

Synonyms: None

Editor: SBuckley, 2010