General:
Perennial herb from a thick, scaly, branched stem-base; stems several, tufted, erect or decumbent at the base, 30-80 cm tall, often branched, appressed- to spreading-hairy.

Leaves:
Basal leaves long-stalked, palmately compound; leaflets 5 to 7 (9), lanceolate to oblong-elliptic, (2) 3-8 (10) cm long, coarsely saw-toothed to deeply lobed, greenish and variously hairy (most often spreading-hairy to woolly-hairy, sometimes also glandular, sometimes nearly smooth) above, usually paler and hairier, often white-woolly beneath; stem leaves alternate, reduced, 1 or 2.

Flowers:
Inflorescence an open, somewhat flat-topped, terminal cluster of several to many stalked flow ers; corollas yellow, bowl-shaped, the petals 5, heart-shaped, 6-10 mm long, shallowly notched at the tip; calyces hairy, 5-lobed, the lobes broadly lanceolate, 4-7 mm long, alternating with 5 shorter, narrowly lanceolate bractlets; ovaries superior; stamens 20.

Fruits:
Achenes, numerous, clustered, lopsided-egg-shaped, 1-2 mm long, greenish, smooth to faintly net-veined.

Notes:
Three varieties occur in BC

1. Leaflets cleft at least 2/3 of the way to the midvein, the segments usually linear and greyish- or whitish-hairy beneath........................ var. flabelliformis (Lehm.) Nutt. ex T. & G.

1. Leaflets cleft no more than 2/3 of the way to the midvein, the segments usually lanceolate and often greenish beneath.

2. Lower surface of leaves white-woolly, much lighter than the upper surface................. var. gracilis

2. Lower surface of the leaves variously hairy but rarely woolly, usually greenish, not much lighter than the upper surface....................... var. fastigiata (Nutt.) S. Wats.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Potentilla angustata Rydb.
Potentilla blasckeana Turcz. ex Lehm.
Potentilla blasckeana var. permollis (Rydb.) Wolf
Potentilla etomentosa Rydb.
Potentilla etomentosa var. hallii (Rydb.) Abrams
Potentilla fastigiata Nutt.
Potentilla glomerata A. Nels.
Potentilla gracilis subsp. nuttallii (Lehm.) Keck
Potentilla gracilis var. blasckeana (Turcz. ex Lehm.) Jepson
Potentilla gracilis var. glabrata (Lehm.) C.L. Hitchc.
Potentilla gracilis var. nuttallii (Lehm.) Sheldon
Potentilla gracilis var. permollis (Rydb.) C.L. Hitchc.
Potentilla gracilis var. rigida S. Wats.
Potentilla indiges M. Peck
Potentilla jucunda A. Nels.
Potentilla nuttallii Lehm.
Potentilla permollis Rydb.
Potentilla rectiformis Rydb.
Potentilla viridescens Rydb.