Bushy cinquefoil

Potentilla supina is a short-lived annual to perennial herb of the Rosaceae family, growing 10 to 50 centimetres tall, with decumbent to ascending, hairy stems branching from the base to form a loose, sprawling clump. The leaves are alternate, pinnately compound with 5 to 11 oblanceolate to oblong leaflets, each 1 to 3 centimetres long, with coarsely toothed margins, a tapering base and softly hairy surfaces, the lower leaves long-petioled and the upper ones sessile or short-stalked, subtended by conspicuous leaf-like stipules. Small bright yellow five-petalled flowers, 6 to 12 millimetres across, are borne singly on slender pedicels in the leaf axils or in loose leafy cymes; the petals are slightly shorter than the sepals, giving the flowers a star-like appearance, and a calyx of five alternating bracteoles is also present. The fruit is a cluster of small, smooth achenes seated on a dry receptacle. Native across Eurasia, the species inhabits damp open ground, riverbanks, ditches and disturbed soils, and is widely naturalised elsewhere.