Rough-Fruited Cinquefoil
Potentilla recta
Family Rosaceae

Characteristics:
* Leaves compound, with 5-7 whorled leaflets.
* Leaflets narrow, hairy, toothed.
* Flowers pale yellow, with 5 notched petals in a flat terminal cluster, 1/2-1".
* Berries round, dark purple when ripe.
* Height: 1-2'.

Natural History:
* Flowers June - August.
* Habitat: Roadsides, meadows.
* Range: Throughout eastern United States.
* Introduced from Europe.

Connections!
* Cinquefoil was popular with witches and spell-brewers in the Middle Ages; it was frequently an ingredient in concoctions that promised love and large fish catches.

* "The toad will be much under Sage, the frog in Cinquefoil."
-Sir Frances Bacon, years??

* "You are surprised and delighted to see this handsome profusion in hollows so dry and usually so baren and bushes commonly so fruitless. The berries are peculiar in that the red are nearly as pleasnt-tasted as the more fully ripe dark-purple ones."
-Henry David Thoreau, 1817-1862