Ontario Weeds: Sulphur cinquefoil
Table of Contents
- Name
- Other Names
- Family
- General Description
- Stems and Roots
- Leaves
- Flowers and Fruit
- Habitat
- Similar Species
- 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.
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.
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.
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@ontario..ca),
Weed Management Specialist (Field Crops), OMAFRA
...on weeds in horticultural crops, contact Kristen Callow (kristen.callow@ontario.ca),
Weed Management Specialist (Hort Crops), OMAFRA
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