Barbara Ertter, James L. Reveal

Potentilla [unranked] Rectae Th. Wolf in P. F. A. Ascherson et al., Syn. Mitteleur. Fl. 6(1): 671, 750. 1904

Perennials, 1-stemmed to ± tufted, not stoloniferous; taproots not fleshy-thickened, often giving rise to ± thickened lateral roots; vestiture of ˂well-differentiated˃ long and short hairs, glands common to abundant, not red. Stems erect, not flagelliform, not rooting at nodes, from centers of ephemeral basal rosettes, 1.5–7 dm, lengths (2–)3–5 times basal ˂or proximal cauline˃ leaves. Leaves: basal not in ranks; cauline (3–)5–9; primary leaves palmate, proximal ones 5–18 cm; petiole: long hairs spreading, stiff, glands common to abundant; leaflets 5–7, at tip of leaf axis, separate, oblanceolate, margins flat or ± revolute, ± whole length ± evenly incised 1/3–1/2 to midvein, teeth 7–17 per side, surfaces ± similar, green, not glaucous, long hairs stiff, cottony and/or crisped hairs absent. Inflorescences (3–)7–60+-flowered, cymose, ± open. Pedicels straight in fruit, 0.5–2(–3) cm, proximal often much longer than distal. Flowers 5-merous; hypanthium 5–9 mm diam.; petals pale [to bright] yellow, obcordate, (4–)7–10(–13) mm, equal to or longer than sepals, apex retuse, rarely rounded; stamens 25–30; styles subapical, columnar-tapered, not or slightly papillate-swollen in proximal 1/3, 0.8–1.3 mm. Achenes strongly rugose.

Species 8–14 (1 in the flora): introduced; Eurasia, n Africa; introduced also in South America, Pacific Islands (New Zealand), Australia.