Shrubby Cinquefoil
Dasiphora fruticosa
A versatile, long-lived plant, the shrubby cinquefoil can grow as a small shrub, mat, or mound, or merely a few sprigs rising from a crack in the rock. Its ability to adapt its growth form and tolerate different types of soil help it inhabit a range of environments around the lake, from moist crannies to windy cliff rims.1 Common to subarctic lands, it has a wide distribution in cool, temperate northern regions and appears on both the lake’s northern and southern shores.
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The shrubby cinquefoil takes its genus name Dasiphora from the Greek words for hair-bearing.2 Fine hairs cover the sepals that shelter its flower buds, and that later in the season curl up to create a hard capsule around the seed. Longer hairs give the leaflets a silky sheen and, though older branches turn woody and grayish, younger stems are softly haired and reddish. From high summer to late fall, older shrubby cinquefoils provide generous doses of color. Short sprigs showcase each precious bud, flower, and fruit against the dark rock.
