Tormentil - Potentilla erecta

Low, creeping, patch-forming, downy plant not rooting at the nodes. Leaves usually trifoliate, toothed upwards towards the tip, silvery below. Stem leaves unstalked, basal rosette leaves withered by flowering time. Flowers yellow, 7 to 11 mm, mostly 4 parted, a few borne in lax clusters.

Potentilla anglica and the hybrids Potentilla x mixta and Potentilla x italica also have 4-petalled flowers

4-petalled flowers, leaves ternate (with 3 leaflets) but with two stipules at the base of the leaf-stalk that look like leaflets; without stalks or with very short stalks.

Photograph of the whole plant, including leaves, in habitat (RPR)

Grassy habitats, heaths and pathways.

May to September.

Perennial.

Common throughout Britain.

Fairly frequent but localised in Leicestershire and Rutland, and threatened by habitat degradation though lack of or inappropriate management.

In the Flora of Leicestershire (Primavesi and Evans 1988) it was found in 196 of the 617 tetrads and in the Flora of Rutland (Messenger 1971) in 40 tetrads.

It is listed on the current VC55 Rare Plant Register (Hall and Woodward 2022) because of its threat-level