Flora of New Zealand Series

creeping cinquefoil

Procumbent perennial herb arising from a slender, stoloniferous stock; stolons up to 40-(80) cm long; stems brown or purplish, hairy, rooting at nodes. Lvs in persistent and open basal rosettes, and cauline; petiole 35-50-(85) mm long, sparsely hairy; blade reniform, palmate; leaflets 3-5, narrow- to broad-obovate, sessile, (5)-8-20-(35) × 3-16 mm, sparsely to moderately clothed in long, appressed hairs above and below (especially along veins on underside), serrate with (2)-3-5-(6) pairs of teeth in upper part; upper cauline lvs sometimes smaller with shorter petiole; stipules linear-lanceolate to narrow-elliptic, acute, usually entire, sometimes with 1-(2) teeth. Fls usually solitary in axils of lvs, rarely several fls together, 4-5-merous. Epicalyx segments lanceolate to narrow-elliptic, 3-6 mm long, acute, entire. Sepals ± ovate-triangular, ± = epicalyx, connate at base; segments pilose. Petals broadly obovate, 4-6-(8) mm long, pale yellow, shallowly emarginate. Style filiform. Achenes finely rugose, c. 1.5 mm long; wings 0 or very obscure.

N.: scattered localities throughout; S.: locally common in Nelson and Westland, Canterbury (Lees Valley and Banks Peninsula), Southland (Piano Flat and Deep Cove).

W. and C. Europe 1957

Swamps, damp pasture, pakihi, roadsides and forest margins up to c. 700 m.

FL Nov-May FT Dec-May.

P. anglica is closely related to P. reptans L. and many previous references to that sp., dating back to at least early this century, are based on plants of P. anglica, as suggested by Healy, A. J., Trans. Roy. Soc. N.Z. 84: 656 (1957). P. reptans differs in being strictly 5-merous, having more carpels per fl. (> 70 rather than 15-40), having more cauline lvs with 5 leaflets and in being generally more robust.