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Shrubby Cinquefoil. Five Finger

Potentilla fruticosa. Rose Family.

Stem.--Erect; shrubby; one to four feet high. Leaves.--Divided into five to seven narrow leaflets. Flowers.--Yellow; resembling those of the common cinquefoil, but larger.

Of all the cinquefoils perhaps this one most truly merits the title five finger. Certainly its slender leaflets are much more finger-like than those of the common cinquefoil. It is not a common plant in most localities, but is very abundant among the Berkshire Hills, where it takes entire possession of otherwise barren fields and roadsides; its peculiarly bluish-green foliage and bright yellow flowers (looking like buttercups growing on a shrub) arresting one's attention throughout the entire summer and occasionally late into the autumn.