About Potentilla hippiana Lehm.
Potentilla hippiana Lehm. is a flowering plant species in the rose family, Rosaceae. Its common names are woolly cinquefoil, horse cinquefoil, and Hipp's cinquefoil. It is native to North America, where it is found across western Canada and the western United States. It is an introduced species in eastern Canada and the US state of Michigan. This perennial herb grows from a thick caudex and taproot, reaching a maximum height of half a meter (1 foot 8 inches). Its leaves grow up to 19 centimeters (7.5 inches) long or longer, and each leaf is composed of multiple toothed leaflets. Leaf texture ranges from hairless to hairy, and may be woolly. It produces small fruit in the form of a tiny achene. This species hybridizes with many other cinquefoil species, including beautiful cinquefoil (P. pulcherrima) and elegant cinquefoil (P. concinna). It can grow in a wide variety of habitat types, such as grassland, forest, meadow, and sagebrush communities. It occurs in both dry and wet habitats, grows across multiple soil types, and can be found on flat terrain and slopes, as well as in a wide range of temperature conditions. It grows at elevations in subalpine and alpine climates. Plant species that commonly co-occur with this cinquefoil across multiple habitat types include prairie junegrass (Koeleria macrantha), elk sedge (Carex geyeri), western yarrow (Achillea millefolium), silvery lupine (Lupinus argenteus), common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), and beautiful fleabane (Erigeron formosissimus). Botanist Johann Georg Christian Lehmann named this species for his friend, Charles Friedrich Hipp.
