Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum: Magnoliophyta -- flowering plants

Class: Magnoliopsida -- dicotyledons

Order: Rosales

Family: Rosaceae -- rose

Subspecies: The Palouse phase is ssp. convallaria

Common Name: tall cinquefoil

Species Code: POAR7, POARC

Origin: Native to prairies and open forest of much of North America except the southeastern US. P. arguta ssp. convallaria is the common subspecies on the Palouse, while ssp. arguta has a more easterly distribution.

Rare: no

Form: forb, perennial from a caudex; stems several, 40-80 cm tall, often anthocyanous, pilose or villous and glandular hairy.

Mature height: 16-32 inches

Duration: perennial

Longevity: medium lifespan

Habitat Type: prairie, shrub thickets, forest

Wetland Indicator Status: FACU

Leaves: basal leaves several, long petiolate, 10-30 cm long, pinnate; leaflets usually 5-9, ovate to obovate or elliptic, 1.5-4 cm long, usually coarsely biserrate or deeply incised, mostly hirsute and glandular pubescent but occasionally glabrous; cauline leaves alternate, few, reduced nearly sessile.

Flowers: borne in a narrow, tight cyme with erect lateral branches; calyx rotate, glandular, the 5 lobes oblong-lanceolate, 4-8 mm long at anthesis, accrescent; corolla spreading, the 5 petals obovate, white to pale yellow, 5-9 mm long; stamens usually 25, pistils numerous, styles fusiform.

Flower color: white, rarely yellow

Bloom: May, June, July

Bloom starts on: late May

Bloom ends on: early July

Fruit: achenes numerous, 1-1.5 mm long, glabrous, with a very slight beak.

Characteristics:
Potentilla as a genus is difficult taxonomically. Apomixis and hybridization cause further complications.
The genus is often apomictic but also freely hybridizes.
Potentilla convallaria in St. John 1963, Drymocallis convallaria in Piper & Beattie 1914, P. arguta var. convallaria in Davis 1953.
2,837,500 seeds/lb (Stevens 1932).
3,200,000 seeds/lb (Hassell et al 1996).
4,403,883 seeds/lb for ssp. convallaria (USDA NRCS Pullman PMC 2005).
Perennating organ is a caudex.
Flowers are perfect.
Fruit is an achene.
n=7 (Hitchcock et al 1969, University of British Columbia 2003).
Roots were used medicinally.

Comments: The sticky substance on the leaves and stems traps insects and the plants are apparently capable of digesting and translocating the insect protein (Spomer 1999).

Sun requirement: full sun to partial shade

Soil moisture: mesic

Precipitation: 10-50 inches for the species (USDA NRCS PLANTS Database 2010).

Fire: The caudex probably survives at least moderate intensity fires

Sowing time: fall or very early spring

Transplant time: spring

Stratification: cold moist

Seed yield: high

Seed harvest: medium difficulty

Seed first harvest: second season

Seed cleaning: easy

Planting duration: long

Seed insect problem: none noted

Seed shatter: medium

Seed size: very small

Seed harvest date: mid July

Seed comments: holds seed well if there is no wind

Herbaria: Specimen data and digital resources from The Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria

Keywords: native perennial upland forb

Propagation:
3 protocols in the Native Plant Network
Illinois Department of Natural Resources
Pullman WA Plant Materials Center
University of Kentucky

Other Propagation information:
Only 6% germination occurred without pretreatment. 2 months of cold moist stratification increased germination to 21% (Greene and Curtis 1950).
Reproduces by seed.

Notes: Potentilla arguta has white flowers on tall, upright plants. Easy to grow. Seeds germinate after a short stratification period. Plants are covered with glandular hairs which trap insects. There is some evidence that suggests the plants are able to digest the insect protein and thus obtain nitrogen from the insects. Flowers in late May and early June. Common names include tall, valley, or glandular cinquefoil (Skinner et al 2005).

References:
Davis, Ray J. 1952. Flora of Idaho. Wm. C. Brown, Dubuque, Iowa. 827 pp.

Greene, H.C., and J.T. Curtis. 1950. Germination Studies of Wisconsin Prairie Plants. American Midland Naturalist 43:186-194.

Hassell, Wendell, W. Rocky Beavers, Steve Ouellette, and Thomas Mitchell. 1996. Seeding Rate Statistics for Native and Introduced Species. US Department of Interior and US Department of Agriculture, NRCS. Denver, CO.

Hitchcock, C. Leo, Arthur Cronquist, Marion Ownbey, and J.W. Thompson. 1969. Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest. University of Washington Press. Seattle, WA. 5 vol.

Piper, C.V., and R.K. Beattie. 1914. The Flora of Southeastern Washington and Adjacent Idaho. Press of the New Era Printing Company, Lancaster, PA. 296 pp.

Skinner, David M., Paul Warnick, Bill French, and Mary Fauci. 2005. Characteristics and Uses of Native Palouse Forbs in Landscaping. USDA NRCS Pullman Plant Materials Center and Palouse Prairie Foundation. Online at http://www.wsu.edu/pmc_nrcs/Docs/Forbs_for_Landscaping.pdf

Spomer, George G. 1999. Evidence of Protocarnivorous Capabilities in Geranium viscosissimum and Potentilla arguta and Other Sticky Plants. International Journal. of Plant Science 160:98-101.

Stevens, O.A. 1932. The Number and Weight of Seeds Produced by Weeds. American Journal of Botany 19:784-794.

St. John, Harold. 1963. Flora of Southeastern Washington and of Adjacent Idaho. 3rd edition. Outdoor Pictures. Escondido, CA.

University of British Columbia. 2003. British Columbia Flora. University of British Columbia Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research. Accessed 9/1/09 online at http://www.bcflora.org/

USDA NRCS, Pullman Plant Materials Center. 2005. Seed Weights of Some Palouse Native Species. Pullman Plant Materials Center, Pullman, Washington. Online at http://www.wsu.edu/~pmc_nrcs/Docs/Seed_Weights_Palouse_Native_Species.pdf

USDA NRCS. 2010. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 8 February, 2010). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

Links:
Plant Profile from the USDA PLANTS Database
Species information from the University of Washington Herbarium