Virginia Tech Dendrology

shrubby cinquefoil Rosaceae Dasiphora fruticosa (L.) Rydb. symbol: DAFR6
Leaf: Alternate, pinnately compound, with 5 (sometimes 3 or 7) leaflets that lack a petiole, overall 1 inch long, petiole may be silky-hairy, leaflets silky-hairy to glabrous, broadly lanceolate to ovate, with entire to revolute margins, dark yellow-green above and pale green below.
Flower: Buttercup-like, one inch across, monoecious; bright yellow to creamy white, 5 petals, present from mid-summer to the end of the growing season.
Fruit: Compact head of hairy achenes, brown flower bases persist, late summer to early fall.
Twig: Reddish brown, slender, may be silky-hairy, becoming shreddy, single bundle scars, stipules persistent and partially covering the small buds.
Bark: Reddish brown and shreddy.
Form: A low mounding multi-stem shrub, to 6 feet, but at the northern edge of its range may closely hug the ground.
Looks like: three-toothed-cinquefoil

Additional Range Information: Dasiphora fruticosa is native to North America. Range may be expanded by planting. Download the full-size PDF map.
External Links: USDAFS FEIS Silvics - USDA Plants Database
All material 2025 Virginia Tech Dept. of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation; Photos and text by: John Seiler, Edward Jensen, Alex Niemiera, and John Peterson; Silvics reprinted from Ag Handbook 654; range map source information