Potentilla recta L.
(C.J.W., D.R.G.)
tall cinquefoil
Erect, somewhat stout perennial herb up to 60-(80) cm tall at flowering; stems green or reddish, clothed with short and long pilose hairs and glands. Lvs mostly cauline, those of the lower ⅓ often withering by anthesis; petiole up to 130 mm long, pilose and glandular; blade orbicular, palmate; leaflets (5)-7, oblong-obovate to linear-lanceolate, sessile, (15)-25-65-(110) × 5-15-(25) mm, sparsely to moderately covered in pilose and short hairs on both surfaces or with only short hairs on upper; margins deeply serrate or occasionally almost pinnatisect, with 8-12-(17) pairs of teeth on terminal leaflet; stipules long-triangular, acute, with up to 3 teeth; upper lvs reduced with fewer narrower leaflets, finally ± sessile. Fls 5-merous, many in lax, terminal cymes. Epicalyx segments linear-lanceolate, acute, entire. Sepals ± narrow-ovate, c. 4-6 mm long, pilose with longer hairs scattered among shorter hairs, c. = epicalyx segments, connate at base. Petals obovate, (5)-7-10-(12) mm long, pale yellow, deeply emarginate. Styles filiform. Achenes reticulate, narrowly winged, c. 1.2-1.8 mm long.
S.: Marlborough (Landsdowne Station, vicinity of Blenheim, and Waihopai Valley), N. and S. Canterbury, N. and C. Otago and Dunedin.
Europe, W. Asia, N.W. Africa 1935
Short grassland, wasteland, roadsides, mostly dry sites.
FL Nov-May FT Dec-May.
P. recta is widely naturalised in drier temperate countries, sometimes becoming an agricultural pest. It is often regarded as consisting of several closely linked taxa forming an extremely variable polyploid complex. The record of P. erecta from Dunedin [Allan, H. H., Trans. Roy. Soc. N.Z. 65: 5 (1935)] is based on material of P. recta.
