Creeping Cinquefoil

Foodplant / spot causer
crowded, epiphyllous, often scattered over whole leaf acervulus of Marssonina coelomycetous anamorph of Diplocarpon earlianum causes spots on live, small, yellow leaf of Potentilla reptans
Remarks: season: 7-10

Foodplant / miner
larva of Fenella nigrita mines leaf of Potentilla reptans

Foodplant / parasite
epiphyllous, uredinoid aecium of Fromme parasitises live leaf of Potentilla reptans
Other: unusual host/prey

Foodplant / open feeder
nocturnal larva of Macrophya annulata grazes on leaf of Potentilla reptans
Other: sole host/prey

Foodplant / spot causer
hypophyllous colony of Ramularia anamorph of Mycosphaerella fragariae causes spots on live leaf of Potentilla reptans

Foodplant / parasite
sporangium of Peronospora potentillae parasitises live Potentilla reptans

In Great Britain and/or Ireland:
Foodplant / parasite
sporangium of Peronospora potentillae-reptantis parasitises live Potentilla reptans
Other: major host/prey

Foodplant / parasite
telium of Phragmidium fragariae parasitises live Potentilla reptans
Other: unusual host/prey

Foodplant / parasite
Podosphaera aphanis parasitises live Potentilla reptans

Herbs perennial, stoloniferous. Roots much branched, usually with fusiform, tubers. Stolons 20–100 cm, sparsely pilose or glabrescent, with adventitious roots at nodes. Radical leaves 7–12 cm including petiole; stipules brown, membranous, abaxially glabrescent; petiole sparsely pilose, appressed sericeous, or glabrescent; leaf blade pedately 5-foliolate, or 3-foliolate; leaflets shortly petiolulate or subsessile, obovate to obovate-oblong, abaxially pilose or appressed sericeous, rarely glabrescent, adaxially subglabrous, base cuneate, margin acutely or obtusely serrate or lobed to parted, sometimes entire, apex obtuse; stolon leaves resembling radical ones; stipules green, ovate-oblong or ovate-lanceolate, herbaceous, margin entire, rarely 1- or 2-serrate, apex acute or acuminate. Flowers solitary, axillary or opposite leaves, 1.5–2.2 cm in diam.; pedicel 6–9 mm, pilose. Sepals ovate-lanceolate, apex acute; epicalyx segments oblong-elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate, nearly equaling sepals, markedly enlarged in fruit, abaxially pilose, apex obtuse or acute. Petals yellow, broadly obovate, slightly longer than sepals, apex markedly emarginate. Style subterminal, thin at base; stigma dilated. Achenes yellow-brown, ovoid, markedly rugose. Fl. and fr. Apr–Sep.

Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Jiangsu, Nei Mongol, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Russia (Siberia); N Africa, C and SW Asia, Europe].

Forest margins, thickets by streams, meadows on mountain slopes, ditch banks, damp field margins; 300--3500 m.

Potentilla reptans L. Sp. PI. 499. 1753
Fragaria reptans Crantz, Inst. 2 : 179. 1766.
Dynamidium reptans Fourr. Ann. Soc. Linn. Lyon II. 16: 371. 1868.
Stems from a perennial root, slender, prostrate, slightly strigose or glabrate, often rooting at the nodes ; stipules oblong-lanceolate, mostly entire ; leaves digitately 5-foliolate ; petioles 3-10 cm. long, strigose; leaflets 1-3 cm. long, cuneate to oblanceolate, crenate or dentate, equally appressed-pubescent on both sides or in age glabrate, acute at the base, obtuse or rounded at the apex ; bractlets ovate or elliptic, 5-10 mm. long, usually much exceeding the ovate sepals ; petals 5, obcordate, 6-10 mm. long, yellow ; stamens about 20.
Type locality : Europe.
Distribution : Europe and northern Asia ; introduced in the eastern United States, mostly as a ballast plant ; Bermuda.

Potentilla reptans, known as the creeping cinquefoil, European cinquefoil or creeping tormentil, is a flowering plant in the family Rosaceae.

A creeping perennial plant native to Eurasia and Northern Africa, Potentilla reptans has been naturalized elsewhere. Its trailing stems root at the nodes, and leaves are on long stalks. The plant blooms between June and August with yellow flowers that are about 2 cm in diameter and have five heart-shaped petals. P. reptans, which can be easily confused with silverweed, often grows in crushed masonry in the South of England. The grizzled skipper butterfly favors the plant.

Alcoholic extracts from roots of Potentilla reptans showed a moderate antimicrobial activity against common wound pathogens.

Potentilla reptans can be an invasive weed in lawns and flowerbeds and difficult to eradicate, particularly when it competes with and infests established groundcovers. All of the taproots must be dug up, or the plant will reappear.