Potentilla millefolia

Feather cinquefoil, Feather Cinquefoil

Family: Rosaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Feather cinquefoil is a California native perennial found in the northeast Sierra Nevada Mountains and Great Basin in vernally wet meadows at elevations of 900 to 2,000 meters. Flowering from April to August, this plant produces white to pale yellow flowers approximately 8 millimeters long with delicate, spreading petals. Growing with prostrate to decumbent stems 5 to 20 centimeters long that are covered in spreading or appressed hairs, it emerges from a thick taproot forming a distinctive rosette. Its pinnate leaves feature 5 to 13 leaflets on each side, typically overlapping and irregularly toothed, with individual leaflets 5 to 20 millimeters long. The plant produces small, smooth tan fruits approximately 1.5 to 2 millimeters in size, characteristic of its delicate cinquefoil structure.

Habitat: Vernally wet meadows

Bloom period: Apr-Aug

Elevation: 900-2000 m

Bioregions: CaRH, ne-most SNH, GB

California counties: Lassen, Siskiyou, Mono, Shasta, Plumas, Butte, Modoc, Tehama, Sierra, Nevada

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