Carried by 2 nurseries
View Availability at NurseryData provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria
View additional distribution information on the Jepson eflora
Dasiphora fruticosa (Shrubby Cinquefoil; syn. Potentilla fruticosa L., Pentaphylloides fruticosa (L.) O.Schwarz) is a shrub in the family Rosaceae, native to the cool temperate to subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, often growing at high altitudes in mountains. It is a deciduous, much branched flowering shrub growing to 0.1-1 meter tall, rarely up to 1.5 meter. The habit is variably upright to sprawling or prostrate, but stems are often ascending especially those stems with many long branches. The bark of older stems is shreddy with long thin strips. The plants are densely leafy, the leaves are divided into five or seven (occasionally three or nine) pinnate leaflets. The leaflets are linear-oblong, 3-20 millimeter long, with entire margins and more or less acute ends. The foliage (both leaves and young stems) is hairy, variably covered in fine silky, silvery hairs about 1 millimeter long. The flowers are produced terminally on the stems and are 2-3 (-4) centimeter across, buttercup-shaped, with five petals and 15-25 stamens; the petals are pale to bright yellow (orange to reddish in some western Chinese populations). The fruit is a cluster of achenes covered with long hairs. The species is variably dioecious or bisexual; flowering is typically from early to late summer. It is normally found growing in moisture retentive soils in swamps and moist rocky areas.
Shrub
4 - 59 in Tall
Winter Deciduous
Yellow, Orange, Red
Summer, Fall
Full Sun
Low, Moderate, High
Does well in moisture retentive soils and moist rocky areas.
1, 2, 3, 4*, 5*, 6*, 7, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
Meadows, rocks
Alpine Fell-Fields, Lodgepole Forest, Subalpine Forest, Wetland-Riparian
Butterflies and moths supported
0 confirmed and 2 likely
Northwestern Phoenix Moth
Eulithis xylina
Purplish Copper
Lycaena helloides