Potentilla chinensis seed

LATIN NAME: Potentilla chinensis

COMMON NAME: Chinese Cinquefoil

The Chinese cinquefoil is a handsome, low, tufted, perennial herb of the dry, sunny places, and its fine, pinnate leaves of the many small, toothed leaflets and its small, bright-yellow, five-petalled flowers in the loose heads have made it a treasured and fine plant of the meadow garden. It grows as a low, tufted, perennial herb, reaching up to half a metre or so, with the low, tufted, branching stems bearing the alternate, pinnate leaves of the many small, oval, toothed leaflets and, through the summer, the small, bright-yellow, five-petalled flowers in the loose, branched heads, followed by the small, dry, many-seeded fruits. It is a species of the flowering plant in the rose family, and it is native to the dry, sunny places of the eastern Asia, while it grows in the open, sunny places, and it is known as the Chinese cinquefoil.

In the rose family it is the low, yellow-flowered cinquefoil of the dry places, a plant that brings the family look down to the level of the meadow floor.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The Chinese cinquefoil appears in the traditional plant chemistry of the eastern Asia, where the parts of the plant have a long record of use, and the constituents have been worked through by the researchers across the world. The botanists have mapped its place in the rose family and the dry grassland of the region, and the horticulturists have grown the bright-yellow, five-petalled form for the meadow and the rock garden. The plant is best appreciated as a subject of study rather than a casual remedy, and the growers of the meadow flowers keep it in their catalogues.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

In the meadow garden, the Chinese cinquefoil is the low, bright tuft of the sunny border. Its small, bright-yellow flowers feed the bees and the insects, and the low, tufted growth carpets the sunny slope and the rock garden with cheer. The traditional use of the region keeps the plant in the old practice, and it grows well in the dry, sunny, well-drained ground. Yellow, low and cheerful.

These are easy, willing seeds — scatter them thinly over the surface of pots of gritty, free-draining soil, press them in lightly and keep them moist in a bright, airy spot, and they’ll be up before long.