SPRING CINQUEFOIL

Potentilla verna

(Formerly: Potentilla tabernaemontani)
(Formerly: Potentilla neumanniana)
Rose Family [Rosaceae]  

month8mar month8march month8apr month8april month8May month8jun month8june

status
statusZnative
flower
flower8yellow
inner
inner8orange
morph
morph8actino
petals
petalsZ5
stem
stem8round
rarity
rarityZscarce

26th June 2019, flanks of Great Orme, Llandudno, North Wales. Photo: © RWD
The flowers now all gone until next spring. The leaves are in terminal rosettes. The basal leaves are palmate, with between 5 to 7 leaflets. The uppermost leaves are smaller and only trefoil. The plant forms matts


26th June 2019, flanks of Great Orme, Llandudno, North Wales. Photo: © RWD


26th June 2019, flanks of Great Orme, Llandudno, North Wales. Photo: © RWD
Leaf edges long-hairy. Need some photos of the flowers...




Many similarities to other Cinquefoils.

Strangely, some Romans seem to call it Potentilla tabernaemontani rather than potentilla neumanniana. Perhaps they have changed its name without telling the books that I possess? They have now changed it again to Potentilla verna which is its present day (2019) binomial name, but in the past P.D. Sell was having a field day and invented 3 other specific epithets for it: paucidentata, brevifoliata and longifrons.

Spring Cinquefoil is thought to hybridise with Alpine Cinquefoil (Potentilla crantzii), the hybrid being found in Northern England and Scotland. The hybrid is often well separated from either parent. The two species are mainly Apomictic forming numerous intermediate hybrids, with the hybrids also hybridising. So maybe that accounts for the plethora of binomial names for it.

It is a medium rare [RR] and getting rarer over the decades. Nowadays (2019) it is found in only 6 very scattered and isolated hectads of the UK, which surprises your Author with its [RR] rarity rating; 6 hectads should qualify for a [RRR] rare rating. There is no presence of it in Ireland.

It is native and grows in dry calcareous soils on grassland, screes and rocky slopes.

Need some photos of the flowers...


  Potentilla tabernaemontani  ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ Rosaceae  

Distribution
family8rose family8Rosaceae
 BSBI maps
genus8potentilla
Potentilla
(Cinquefoils)

SPRING CINQUEFOIL

Potentilla verna

(Formerly: Potentilla tabernaemontani)
(Formerly: Potentilla neumanniana)
Rose Family [Rosaceae]  

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