Potentilla rivalis

Brook or river cinquefoil, River Cinquefoil

Family: Rosaceae · Type: annual · Native

Brook cinquefoil is a California native annual found in southern North Coast Ranges, High Cascades, Sierra Nevada, Central Valley, Central Western California, San Bernardino Mountains, Peninsular Ranges, Modoc Plateau, and Sonoran Desert in moist, somewhat disturbed areas at elevations of 40 to 2,100 meters. Flowering from March to November, this plant produces pale yellow to white flowers in small clusters. Growing with ascending stems 10 to 50 centimeters tall that are covered in spreading hairs, it develops a taproot. Its ternate leaves have 3 to 5 leaflets, with central leaflets 10 to 40 millimeters long, oblanceolate to elliptic, and irregularly toothed along one-third of their length. The small light brown fruits are approximately 0.8 millimeters long and smooth.

Habitat: Moist, +- disturbed areas

Bloom period: Mar-Nov

Elevation: 40-2100 m

Bioregions: s NCoRO, CaRH, SN, GV, CW, SnBr, PR, MP, DSon

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