Potentilla fruticosa, June 16, 2022
Common & scientific name
Shrubby cinquefoil, Potentilla fruticosa
Family
Rose, Rosaceae
Location
Difficult, 8,100’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This plant has gone through more than a half-dozen name changes since Carl Linnaeus first stamped the binomial system onto it in the mid-1700s, beginning with “Potentilla fruticosa.” Its flowers are very potentilla (or cinquefoil)-like, but not its essential shrub nature (a “shrub” being defined as a woody plant which is smaller than a tree and has persistent woody stems above the ground, unlike herbaceous plants). It can be seen almost everywhere on the Pass.