Plant Name
Scientific Name: Potentilla thurberi
Common Names: Scarlet Cinquefoil, Red Cinquefoil, Five-finger
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial
Growth Habit: Herb/Forb
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Mountain, Riparian. This beautiful mountain wildflower grows in rich soil in coniferous forests, in mountain meadows, and along mountain streams. Scarlet Cinquefoil is also cultivated as a garden plant.
Flower Color: Red
Flowering Season: Summer, Fall
Height: To 2 feet (61 cm) tall
Description: The flowers are cup-shaped, surrounded by leafy bracts, 1 inch (2.5 cm) wide, and have 5 broadly heart-shaped, red petals with a soft, rich, velvety sheen. The leaves are dark green, alternate, silky-hairy below, and palmately compound with 5 or 7 ovate to oblanceolate leaflets with saw-toothed margins. The stems are slender and hairy.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Rosidae
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae – Rose family
Genus: Potentilla L. – cinquefoil
Species: Potentilla thurberi A. Gray – scarlet cinquefoil
More About This Plant