Elegant Cinquefoil

Potentilla bicrenata Rydb. Bull. Torrey Club 23 : 431. 1896
Perennial, with a tap-root and short caudex, simple or cespitose ; stem erect to spreading, 5-7 cm. high, about equaling the leaves, 1-3-flowered, nearly leafless ; basal leaves with petioles 3-6 cm. long, digitately 5-foliolate, silky and greenish above, white-tomentose beneath ; leaflets 0.5-3 cm. long, oblong-cuneate, the margins entire, except at the very apex, where there are 2 (seldom 4) notches making the leaflets 3(seldom 5-) toothed at the apex, the middle tooth generally the smallest ; flowers about 1 cm. in diameter ; hypanthium silky ; bractlets lanceolate, about 3 mm. long ; sepals ovate or lance-ovate, about 4 mm. long; petals obovate, truncate or emarginate, 5-6 mm. long; stamens about 20; pistils many ; styles filiform, short.
Type locality : New Mexico.
Distribution : Dry hills from New Mexico to Wyoming.