Potentilla bruceae

Bruce's cinquefoil

Family: Rosaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Bruce's cinquefoil is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, High Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, and Warner Mountains in seasonally dry meadows at elevations of 1,200 to 3,700 meters. Flowering from June to August, this plant produces white to pale yellow flowers with delicate petals 5 to 8 millimeters long. Growing with ascending stems 15 to 50 centimeters tall and covered in shaggy to cottony hairs, it forms a compact tufted habit from a few-branched caudex. Its palmate leaves feature 5 to 7 leaflets, with the central leaflet 15 to 50 millimeters long, obovate to oblanceolate, and typically 7 to 13-toothed, often appearing gray-hairy. The small fruits are approximately 1.5 millimeters long and brown, with a smooth to slightly veined surface.

Habitat: Seasonally dry meadows

Bloom period: Jun-Aug

Elevation: 1200-3700 m

Bioregions: KR, CaRH, SNH, Wrn

California counties: Modoc, Mono, Inyo, Amador, Alpine, Madera, Siskiyou, Fresno, Nevada, Tulare, Tuolumne, Butte, Plumas, Sierra, El Dorado, Placer, Mendocino

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.