cinquefoil

Cinquefoil is a common name for several flowering plants in the Rosaceae family, most often the genus Potentilla. The name derives from Latin quinquefolium or French cinque-feuille, meaning “five-leaved,” a reference to the palmate leaves with typically five leaflets.

Most species are herbaceous perennials with a low-growing, spreading habit. Leaves are palmate and usually have five leaflets, though some species have three or seven. Flowers are small and usually yellow, arranged in loose clusters; some cultivated forms have white or pink blooms. Potentilla species vary from groundcovers to small shrubs.

Notable species include Potentilla erecta (tormentil), a European plant with yellow flowers; Potentilla reptans (creeping cinquefoil), which forms mats along damp ground; and Potentilla fruticosa (shrubby cinquefoil), a widely grown ornamental. Potentilla canadensis is common in North America.

Cinquefoils occupy temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere and inhabit meadows, grasslands, wetlands, and alpine slopes. They are valued in horticulture as groundcovers and ornamentals. Tormentil has a history of traditional medicinal use for its astringent properties; other species are mainly grown for foliage and flowers.

The term cinquefoil is sometimes applied to species formerly placed in Potentilla; however, Potentilla remains the core group associated with the common name.