Common name:
Fan-foil
Family:
Scientific name:
Potentilla flabellifolia
Main flower color:
Range:
California (Cascades and Sierra Nevada) and the northwestern states
Height:
Up to 12 inches
Habitat:
Streambanks, lake margins, moist meadows, close to or above the treeline, from 5,300 to 12,000 feet
Leaves:
Hairless, ternate, on thick stalks of up to 5 inches; leaflets are obovate, up to 1.3 inches long
Season:
July to September
Potentilla flabellifolia is a medium-sized, summer-flowering, non-glandular species, most easily identified from its leaves, which are subpalmately divided into three broad, obovate or fan-shaped (flabellate) leaflets, the longest (the central) up to 1.2 inches. Leaflets are lined by between seven and 15 teeth, divided to about a quarter of the way to the midvein. Basal leaves are long stalked, up to 5 inches, almost half the height of the stems.
The five dark yellow petals are up to 0.4 inches long, obovate, shallowly notched, non-overlapping. Sepals are shorter, sparsely long-hairy, widely lanceolate. In between are the epicalyx bracts, ovate to diamond-shaped, around a quarter of the length as the sepals. Flowers are single, or in groups of up to six.
The five dark yellow petals are up to 0.4 inches long, obovate, shallowly notched, non-overlapping. Sepals are shorter, sparsely long-hairy, widely lanceolate. In between are the epicalyx bracts, ovate to diamond-shaped, around a quarter of the length as the sepals. Flowers are single, or in groups of up to six.
All Contents © Copyright The American Southwest | Comments and Questions | Contribute | Site Map