Potentilla gracilis var. elmeri

Elmer's cinquefoil

Family: Rosaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Elmer's cinquefoil is a California native perennial found in the Sierra Nevada, Tehachapi Mountains, Transverse Ranges, San Jacinto Mountains, and southeastern Sierra Nevada in dry meadows at elevations of 1,280 to 3,050 meters. Flowering from June to August, this plant produces yellow flowers 5 to 8 millimeters long with delicate petals. Growing with slender stems 20 to 50 centimeters tall, it has hairs generally appressed along its length. Its distinctive leaves feature a central basal leaflet 20 to 60 millimeters long, densely woolly on the underside and deeply toothed nearly to the midvein, with teeth often narrowest at their base. The plant forms a delicate, ground-hugging cluster with finely divided foliage characteristic of the cinquefoil group.

Habitat: dry meadows

Bloom period: Jun-Aug

Elevation: 1280-3050 m

Bioregions: SNH, Teh, TR, SnJt, SNE

California counties: Plumas, Mono, Lassen, Placer, Fresno, Ventura, Inyo, Kern, Shasta, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Riverside, Tulare, Madera, Alpine, El Dorado, Siskiyou, Tuolumne

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