Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria

View additional distribution information on the Jepson eflora

Potentilla biennis is a species of cinquefoil known by the common names biennial cinquefoil and Greene's cinquefoil. It is native to western North America from northwestern Canada to the southwestern United States, where it grows in moist habitat. This is an annual or biennial herb producing an erect stem up to 70 centimeters tall from a taproot. It is hairy and glandular in texture. The hairy leaves are each divided into three toothed, oval leaflets each up to 3 centimeters long. The inflorescence is a cyme of several flowers. Each flower has five oval yellow petals 1 or 2 millimeters long and five triangular sepals which are slightly longer. The fruit is a minute whitish achene.

Plant type

Perennial herb

Size

4 - 28 in Tall

Calscape icon
Color

Yellow

Sun

Partial Shade

Site type

Moist shores

Plant communities

Lodgepole Forest, Red Fir Forest, Sagebrush Scrub, Yellow Pine Forest, Wetland-Riparian

Caterpillars
Butterflies

Butterflies and moths supported

0 confirmed and 11 likely

Confirmed Likely

Orange Tortrix Moth

Argyrotaenia franciscana

Dark Marbled Carpet

Dysstroma citrata

Eupithecia nimbicolor

Satyr Pug

Eupithecia satyrata