Sparseleaf Cinquefoil

Potentilla brevifolia Nutt.; T. & G. Fl. N. Am. 1 : 442. 1840
Plant very low, cespitose, perennial, with a short caudex ; stems less than 1 cm. high,. slender, 1or 2-leaved, glandular-puberulent ; stipules about 0.5 cm. long, broadly ovate, entire, the lower scarious ; basal leaves many, small, pinnate with 1-2 pairs of leaflets, puberulent; leaflets suborbicular with cuneate base, 2-3-cleft and crenate, 0.5-1 cm. long; stemleaves much reduced, and subsessile; hypanthium glandular-puberulent, sometimes with a few long hairs, in fruit less than 5 mm. broad; flowers about 8 mm. in diameter; bractlets oblong, obtuse or acutish, a little shorter than the sepals, which are broadly ovate and acute or slightly mucron ate, 4 mm. long; petals a little longer than the sepals, yellow, obovate, and often a little notched ; stamens about 20 ; pistils many.
Type locality : Near the summit of mountains, within the perpetual snow line, near Goodier River of the Oregon.
Distribution : High mountains from Oregon to western Wyoming.