Wildflower (forb) · Rosaceae
Slender cinquefoil
Potentilla gracilis · includes its varieties and subspecies
Slender cinquefoil is recorded as native to 16 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 288 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Slender cinquefoil at a glance
- Native in
- 288 counties, across 16 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3a PLANTS minimum temperature −43°F
- Mature height
- 2.4 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Low water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −43°F; zone 3a winters bottom out at −40°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Slender cinquefoil is recorded as native to 16 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 288 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 288 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alaska 7 counties
- California 35 counties
- Colorado 17 counties
- Idaho 29 counties
- Michigan 2 counties
- Minnesota 3 counties
- Montana 36 counties
- Nevada 16 counties
- New Mexico 4 counties
- North Dakota 20 counties
- Oregon 34 counties
- South Dakota 3 counties
- Utah 29 counties
- Washington 31 counties
- Wisconsin 2 counties
- Wyoming 20 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb, Subshrub
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 2.4 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Multiple Stem
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Low water use
- Drought tolerance
- Medium
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 20 to 80 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 4 to 7.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 4 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −43°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 100
- Fire tolerance
- None
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Early Summer
- Foliage color
- Gray-Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Black
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Rosaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- POGR9
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Potentilla gracilis (PLANTS symbol POGR9), including 1 variety or subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources