''Potentilla simplex'', also known as common cinquefoil or old-field five-fingers or oldfield cinquefoil, is a perennial herb in the

Rosaceae Rosaceae (), the rose family, is a medium-sized family of flowering plants that includes 4,828 known species in 91 genera. The name is derived from the type genus ''Rosa''. Among the most species-rich genera are '' Alchemilla'' (270), '' Sorbu ...

(rose) family native to eastern North America from Ontario, Quebec, and Labrador south to Texas, Alabama, and panhandle Florida. ''Potentilla simplex'' is a familiar plant with prostrate stems that root at nodes, with yellow flowers and 5-parted palmately pinnate leaves arising from stolons (runners) on separate stalks.

Complete Complete may refer to: Logic * Completeness (logic) * Completeness of a theory, the property of a theory that every formula in the theory's language or its negation is provable Mathematics * The completeness of the real numbers, which implies ...

flowers bearing 5 yellow

petal Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''corolla''. Petals are usuall ...

s (about 4-10 mm long) bloom from March to June. It bears seed from April to July. It is commonly found in woodlands, fields, and disturbed areas. Along with ''

Potentilla canadensis Potentilla canadensis, the dwarf cinquefoil, is a species of cinquefoil ( genus '' Potentilla'') native to North America. The Iroquois take a pounded infusion of the roots as an antidiarrheal. The Natchez give the plant as a drug for those ...

'', the plant is an indicator of impoverished soil as well as the host species for the cinquefoil bud gall wasp ''

Diastrophus potentillae ''Diastrophus potentillae'', also known as the cinquefoil bud gall wasp, is a species of gall wasp in the family Cynipidae. It is found in eastern North America. It makes galls on the stems of ''Potentilla canadensis Potentilla canadensis, th ...

''. Pollinators include mason bees, small carpenter bees, cuckoo bees, halictid bees, syrphid flies, tachinid flies, blow flies, and others. Less common pollinators are wasps and butterflies. Rabbits and groundhogs eat the foliage. Young shoots and leaves are edible as a salad or pot herb.

References

simplex In geometry, a simplex (plural: simplexes or simplices) is a generalization of the notion of a triangle or tetrahedron to arbitrary dimensions. The simplex is so-named because it represents the simplest possible polytope in any given dimension ...

Edible plants Flora of North America Plants described in 1803 Taxa named by André Michaux {{Rosaceae-stub