Ontario Weeds: Sulphur cinquefoil

Table of Contents

1. Name
2. Other Names
3. Family
4. General Description
   • Photos and Pictures
5. Stems and Roots
6. Leaves
7. Flowers and Fruit
8. Habitat
9. Similar Species
10. For more information...

Name: Sulphur cinquefoil, Potentilla recta L.,

Other Names: Five-finger cinquefoil, Rough-fruited cinquefoil, Upright cinquefoil, Yellow cinquefoil, potentille dressée, potentille droite

Family: Rose Family (Rosaceae)

General Description: It is distinguished by its 5 to 7 leaflets palmately arranged at the end of a leafstalk like fingers from the palm of a hand, but sometimes with only 3 leaflets per leaf or the leaves not divided on the smaller flowering branches; the leaves always green on both surfaces, and the large, deep yellow to sulfur-yellow flowers with petals longer than sepals. It is similar to Rough cinquefoil in general habit and appearance but distinguished by being perennial from a coarse, fibrous root system.

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Photos and Pictures

Sulphur cinquefoil (A - plant; B - flowers and leaves).

Sulphur cinquefoil. A. Plant. B. Seedling with 2 true leaves. C. Seedling with 4th leaf trifoliolate.

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Stems & Roots: Usually multiple-stemmed, the stems often taller (20 - 80 cm, 8 - 32 in. high);

Leaves: Green on both sides, palmately compound with usually 5 to 7 narrow, coarsely toothed, hairy leaflets at the tip of the leafstalk (petiole) (like fingers from the palm of the hand) and a pair of stipules at the base of each leafstalk; first 2 or 3 true leaves on seedling not divided.

Flowers & Fruit: Flowers large, 2-2.5cm (4/5-1in.) across; petals deep yellow to sulfur-yellow, longer than the green sepals; seeds prominently wrinkly-ridged. Flowers from early June until fall.

Habitat: Rough cinquefoil occurs throughout Ontario in pastures, meadows, waste areas, roadsides, and occasionally in gardens and cultivated fields.

Similar Species: Sulphur cinquefoil is sometimes mistaken for Marijuana (chanvre, Hemp, Cannabis, Cannabis sativa L.) because of its palmately compound leaves, but Marijuana is a much taller plant up to 1.2-3m (4-10ft.) tall, with much larger palmately compound leaves, each having 5-11leaflets, the leaflets long and slender (up to 15cm, 6in., long or even longer, and 1.5cm, 3/5in., wide) with coarse teeth, the leaf petioles without stipules, and the stems and leaves somewhat rough with very short, stiff, incurved hairs but lacking the prominent hairiness of the cinquefoils.

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For more information...

... on weed identification, order OMAFRA Publication 505: Ontario Weeds

... on weed control, order OMAFRA Publication 75: Guide To Weed Control

...on weeds in field crops, contact Mike Cowbrough (mike.cowbrough@omafra.gov.on.ca), Weed Management Specialist (Field Crops), OMAFRA, Guelph
...on weeds in horticultural crops, contact Leslie Huffman (leslie.huffman@omafra.gov.on.ca), Weed Management Specialist (Hort Crops), OMAFRA. Harrow

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