Mountainmeadow Cinquefoil

Potentilla perdissecta Rydberg, sp. nov
Poientilla decurrens Rydb. Bull, Torrey Club 23 : 396, mainly. 1896. Not P. dissecta decurrens S. Wats. 1873.
Perennial, with a short cespitose caudex ; stems 0.5-2 dm. high, when young slightly silky-strigose, glabrate in age ; stipules ovate, acute ; basal leaves palmately or rarely pinnately 5-7-foliolate, thick and somewhat coriaceous, with ribs prominent beneath ; leaflets. 1-3 cm. long, obovate in outline, the two lower much smaller, all deeply cleft into oblong or lanceolate acute divisions, glabrous or nearly so, shining ; hypanthium silkyvillous , in fruit about 5 mm. in diameter ; bractlets oblong, obtuse, much shorter than the ovate-lanceolate acute sepals, which are 4-5 mm. long ; petals obcordate, much longer than the sepals, 5-S mm. long ; stamens 20 ; pistils many ; styles filiform.
Type collected on Spanish Peaks, Madison Range, Montana, July, 1896, Flodman 572 (herb. N. Y. Bot. Card.).
Distribution : High mountains from Alberta and British Columbia to Wyoming and Utah.