Images: ©Jouko Lehmuskallio
Alpine Cinquefoil
Potentilla crantzii
- Family: Rose Family – Rosaceae
- Height: 5–30 cm (2–12 in.)
- Flower: Regular, diameter 15-20 mm (0.6-0.9 in.). Sepals five, sharp-pointed. Beneath sepals an epicalyx consisting of five bracts. Petals five, bright-yellow, notched, often with an orange spot at the base. Carpels free, at least ten. Stamens twenty. Receptacle hairy. Inflorescence a lax, 3–10flowered corymb.
- Leaves: Alternate, stipulate, palmate. Basal leaves long-stalked, with five leaflets. Stem leaves short-stalked or stalkless, with three to five leaflets. Leaflets obovate, hairy on both sides, margins toothed only near the tip. Stipules broad.
- Fruit: An oval, matt, slightly ridged achene.
- Habitat: Dry meadows, rock outcrops, and waysides in Southern Finland. Riverbanks, dry meadows, fjeld meadows, rich fjeld heaths, and cliff-ledges in Lapland.
- Flowering time: April–August.
The cinquefoils (Potentilla spp.) are usually herbs, sometimes subshrubs or small shrubs. It is a large genus of approximately 500 species. Cinquefoils occur in all continents, but are most abundant in the temperate regions of the Northern hemisphere. Some of the species are among the most primitive in the rose family (Rosaceae), others are highly specialized. The oldest forms, existing already in the Tertiary, were possibly woody. Some of the subshrub type cinquefoils closely resemble the strawberries (Fragaria spp.).
The perennial alpine cinquefoil has a two-parted distribution being common in the south of the country and in Lapland, but rare in between. This is a variable species that thrives on acid, often peaty soils, but also lush meadows or sunny hillsides and forest glades. In Lapland, it is most common in the tundra belt.
