Southwest Colorado Wildflowers, Potentilla concinna

Potentillas (commonly called "Cinquefoils") are abundant through many vegetative zones in the San Juans and other mountains of the Four Corners and their bright yellow flowers are a common sight to hikers. Their are several dozen species of Potentilla in the Four Corners area; they hybridize and are difficult to distinguish.

Linnaeus named the genus in 1753. "Potentilla" is derived from "potent", as some members of the genus were believed to have potent curative powers. "Cinquefoil" is from the Latin "quinque" (five) and "folium" (leaf) for the five-parted leaflet.

See Potentilla pensylvanica and P. plattensis, Potentilla rubricaulis, and Drymocallis arguta.

Potentilla concinna. Synonym: Potentilla concinna variety bicrenata, Potentilla bicrenata. (Cinquefoil)
Rosaceae (Rose Family)

Foothills to alpine. Openings, woodlands. Summer.
Sharkstooth Trail, June 28, 2007.

The Potentilla concinna in the photographs at left is growing at 11,000 feet in rocky terrain, but the species also grows in the Pines of the foothills and mountains -- as shown in the photographs below. At 11,000 feet the plant occurs in small tufts to seven inches across and three inches high. It is a bit larger at lower elevations. (The leaves and flower bud in the lower left belong to Packera werneriifolia.)

As the second photograph at left shows, leaves often curl, are densely hairy on the back and darker green and sparsely hairy on top, and have smooth sides and three teeth on the tip ("bicrenata", "twice notched").

Richardson named the species P. concinna in 1823 from a specimen he collected "on the plains of the Saskatchawan" on the Franklin Expedition of 1819-1821. Per Axel Rydberg named the species P. bicrenata in 1896 from a specimen collected by C. D. Walcott in New Mexico in 1883. The designation "Potentilla concinna variety bicrenata" was given by Welsh and Johnston in 1982 but John Kartesz, the ultimate authority for scientific names on this web site, accepts the name "P. concinna". "Concinna" is Latin for "neat, elegant".

Potentilla concinna. Synonym: Potentilla concinna variety bicrenata, Potentilla bicrenata. (Cinquefoil)
Rosaceae (Rose Family)

Foothills, montane, sub-alpine. Openings, woodlands. Spring to early summer.
Robertson Pasture Trail, Abajo Mountains, Utah, June 12, 2009.

Potentilla concinna grows in all the Four Corners states and northward into Canada. It is a tiny plant with leaf stems from only one to four inches long, leaves to a bit more than an inch long and no more than 1/3 inch wide, and flower petals up to 1/4 inch long. It begins blooming in early spring before leaves are mature. The photos at left and below show it at the end of its blooming period at about 8,500 feet elevation.

Potentilla concinna. Synonym: Potentilla concinna variety bicrenata, Potentilla bicrenata. (Cinquefoil)
Rosaceae (Rose Family)

Foothills to alpine. Openings, woodlands. Spring to early summer.
Robertson Pasture Trail, Abajo Mountains, Utah, June 12, 2009.

Potentilla concinna. Synonym: Potentilla concinna variety bicrenata, Potentilla bicrenata. (Cinquefoil)
Rosaceae (Rose Family)

Foothills to alpine. Openings, woodlands. Spring to early summer.
Robertson Pasture Trail, Abajo Mountains, Utah, June 12, 2009.

Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state

County Color Key

Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Native species, but adventive in state
Eradicated
Questionable presence

Range map for Potentilla concinna