POTENTILLA REPTANS

Family and Genus:- See- ROSACEAE

Common Names:- Creeping cinquefoil, Creeping tormentil,

European cinquefoil.

Homotypic Synonyms: None

Meaning:- Potentilla (L) Quite-powerful, (reference to its medical properties).

Reptans (L) Crawling along, creeping and rooting.

General description:- A creeping perennial plant.

Rootstock:-

1) Relatively slender, with a persistent rosette of leaves.

2) Flowering stems, 30-80 cm, procumbent, rooting at the nodes, glabrous or

pubescent.

Leaves:-

1) Long-petiolate, digitate;

a) leaflets, 5, oblong-obovate, with 5-10 subobtuse teeth on either side,

sparsely pubescent, green on both sides.

Flowers:-

1) Usually solitary in the leaf axils, 5-merous, bright yellow, 12-24 mm, borne in lax

cymes.

a) pedicel, slender, at least as long as the petiole.

2) Petals, (7-)8-12 mm, patent, cordate, up to twice as long as the sepals, bright

yellow.

3) Sepals, 5, epicalyx-segments variable.

4) Stamens, c. 20.

5) Carpels, 60-120.

6) Style, conical at the base, enlarged at the apex, subterminal, equalling the

achene.

Fruit:-

1) Achenes, c. 1 mm, ovoid, rugose, glabrous; style

Key features:-

1) Stems, procumbent, rooting at the nodes.

2) Flowers, solitary on long pedicels in the leaf axils.

3) Sepals, and petals 5.

Click here for a glossary of terms used

Habitat:- Grazed meadows, lake margins, gravelly roadsides, olive groves, ruderal

habitats. 0-1400(-2300) m.

Distribution:- Almost throughout Greece, Europe and the the Mediterranean

region, eastwards at least to W Siberia. Limited distribution on Crete, sporadic.

Flowering time:- (Apr-)May-Aug.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton