Online Virtual Flora of Wisconsin - Potentilla norvegica

Potentilla norvegica L.

Family: Rosaceae

Norwegian cinquefoil, rough cinquefoil, strawberry-weed

[Potentilla hirsuta Michx., more...]

Emmet J. Judziewicz

University of Wisconsin - Madison (WIS-VP)

Open Interactive Map

Etymology: Potentilla: comes from the Latin diminutive of potens meaning "powerful" in reference to the medicinal properties of some species
Plants: erect, annual to perennial, 1'-3' tall forb; stems very leafy, stout, finely hairy, mostly branched
Leaves: 3-parted, elliptical to widely oval to 3" long, with rounded teeth
Flowers: yellow, 5-parted, 1/3" wide, petals nearly as long as the sepals; inflorescence with many flowers in a tight, branched cluster (cyme); blooms June-Aug.
Fruits: dry seed
Habitat: dry; disturbed sites
Conservation Status: Native

Forests of oak-jack pine, red maple, aspen, oak-maple, white cedar-white spruce, sugar maple-birch-balsam fir-white cedar, sugar maple-basswood, cherry-red pine, aspen-red maple-elm-birch, box elder-walnut, pine, hemlock-sugar maple-basswood, and swamps of white cedar, birch-tamarack-red maple. Prairies, oak savannas, pine plantations, fields, agricultural land, gardens, abandoned lots, lawns, farmyards, roadsides, trail edges, logging roads, ditches, along wooded streams, railroad corridors, waste areas and dumps, willow thickets, shorebird rookery islands, lakeshores and beaches, lake swales, sedge meadows, clay banks, riverbanks, clearings and meadows, sand spits, quarries, gravel pits, marshy areas, dolomite shores of Door Co., pine barrens, borders of bogs and floodplain forests, cliffs, blufftops, talus slopes. This is a highly variable species and it can be found as nearly prostrate plants along gravel roads, large sprawling plants on shores, or erect plants in forests; some collections from the far northern counties have very small leaves and short, unbranched stems a few centimeters tall. Found throughout the entire state and usually associated with disturbed habitats, both natural and anthropogenic. Potentilla norvegica is native to both Eurasia and North America and considering its weedy nature, it seems possible that some of our plants are not native, but there is no clearcut difference between the populations. Potentilla rivalis Nutt. ex Torr. & A. Gray has been attributed to Wisconsin, but no specimens seem to exist to corroborate this. It has been collected in eastern Minnesota and Iowa and could conceivably turn up here one day. It differs most readily in usually having cauline leaves with five leaflets, weak, short hairs on the stem bases and petioles, and smooth mature achenes. Immature achenes of P. norvegica will be faintly rugose and care should be taken to examine them before making a determination.