Potentilla bipinnatifida Douglas ex Hook.
bipinnate cinquefoil (tansy cinquefoil)
Rosaceae (Rose family)

Introduction to Vascular Plants

Photograph

© Curtis Bjork     (Photo ID #24973)


Map

E-Flora BC Static Map

Distribution of Potentilla bipinnatifida
Click here to view the full interactive map and legend

Species Information

General:
Perennial herb from stout branched stem-base; stems slender, 1 to several, tufted, erect or decumbent at the base, 20-50 cm tall, usually with short and long, spreading or ascending hairs.
Leaves:
Basal leaves stalked, pinnately compound but sometimes appearing palmate; leaflets 5 to 7 (9), crowded, oblong to lanceolate, 1-6 cm long, cleft nearly to the midrib into linear-oblong lobes, grey-green and sparsely to densely hairy on the upper surface, white-woolly overlain with long-silky hairs or occasionally nearly smooth and greenish beneath; stem leaves alternate, similar but short-stalked, 2 to 4, reduced upward.
Flowers:
Inflorescence an open to compact and narrow, terminal cluster of several to many stalked flowers; corollas yellow, bowl-shaped, the petals 5, heart-shaped, 2-3 mm long; calyces woolly- to appressed-hairy and more or less glandular, 5-lobed, the lobes egg-shaped, 3-4 mm long, alternating with 5 shorter, lance-oblong bractlets; ovaries superior, the styles glandular-warty-thickened at the base; stamens usually 20.
Fruits:
Achenes, numerous, clustered, lopsided-egg-shaped, about 1 mm long.

SourceThe Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Illustration

If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.

Ecology

Ecological Framework for Potentilla bipinnatifida

The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)

Site Information
Value / Class

Avg

Min

Max

Elevation (metres)
817 660 900
Slope Gradient (%)
20 9 34

Aspect (degrees)
[0 - N; 90 - E; 180 - S; 270 - W]

271 12 329
Soil Moisture Regime (SMR)
[0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic;
8 - hydric]
0 0 2
Modal Nutrient Regime
Class
C
# of field plots
 species was recorded in:
4
Modal BEC Zone Class
BG

All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in

BG(3), PP(1)

Habitat and Range

Moist meadows, grassy slopes, alkali flats and lake margins in the steppe and montane zones; infrequent in BC east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains; N to AK, YT and NT, E to NF and S to CA, NM, IN and NH.

SourceThe Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Synonyms

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Potentilla bipinnatifida var. bipinnatifida
Potentilla finitima Kohli & Packer
Potentilla pensylvanica var. arida B. Boivin
Potentilla pensylvanica var. bipinnatifida (Douglas ex Hook.) Torr. & A. Gray