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Potentilla simplex
Also called Old Field Cinquefoil, Old Field Five Fingers, Spreading Cinquefoil, Simple Cinquefoil, Oldfield Cinquefoil, Oldfield Fivefingers
Common cinquefoil is a low, spreading perennial herb in the rose family with five-parted leaves and small yellow flowers, native to eastern North America. It thrives in open, sunny spots and tolerates poor soil.
Potentilla simplex, also known as common cinquefoil or old-field five-fingers or oldfield cinquefoil, is a perennial herb in the Rosaceae (rose) family native to eastern North America from Ontario, Quebec, and Labrador south to Texas, Alabama, and panhandle Florida.
Potentilla simplex is a familiar plant with prostrate stems that root at nodes, with yellow flowers and 5-parted palmately pinnate leaves arising from stolons (runners) on separate stalks. Complete flowers bearing 5 yellow petals (about 4–10 mm long) bloom from March to June. It bears seed from April to July. It is commonly found in woodlands, fields, and disturbed areas. Along with Potentilla canadensis, the plant is an indicator of impoverished soil as well as the host species for the cinquefoil bud gall wasp Diastrophus potentillae.
Dwarf Yellow Cinquefoil · Varileaf cinquefoil · Tormentil · Yellow-flowered strawberry · Spring cinquefoil · Snow cinquefoil · Norwegian cinquefoil · Creeping cinquefoil · Brook cinquefoil · Cinquefoil
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Potentilla simplex by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.
