100 Species #42: Dwarf cinquefoil

[urbpan]

This one was near the gate between the side yard and the big yard and was one of the first to bloom, but now there's dwarf cinquefoil (Potentilla canadensis) all over the frickin' place.

Cinquefoil is another very innocuous weed of lawn and garden. I'm perfectly happy to let it be--like violet it's below weed-trimmer height, and it produces a nice little flower. It's a perennial, often the only green thing in a yard in winter, and spreads with vining stems, which probably annoys fans of monocultural grass lawns. My only problem with it is that at a glance it can be mistaken for strawberry--other cinquefoils with three leaf patterns instead of five are even worse.

When generic cinquefoil was 365 species #33 (on February second!) it happened to be dwarf cinquefoil in the picture.

Comments

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

oh, hah.

will check that out in my newly arriving weed book.

i always assumed that it was non fruit strawberry or something...

which reminds me, to visit strawberry hill :)

#

[callipygian80.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you posted this. I noticed this in my lawn, too, but had no idea what it was. Having a new piece of property is becoming a interesting discovery process.