Dark purple-red star flowers, whose sepals are larger than the petals, stand above five-fingered leaves in a bog
Marsh cinquefoil, Comarum palustre (also Potentilla palustris).
Nature · Wildflowers & flowers
Marsh cinquefoil
Native · flowers May–Jul · bogs, fens and wet moorland
Comarum palustre (Potentilla palustris) — Rosaceae
The odd one out among the cinquefoils: a plant of bogs and fens whose flowers are a dark, wine-purple star rather than yellow. The pointed purple sepals are larger than the petals, so the flower looks like a star. It is widespread in the north and west, scarcer in the south and East Anglia.
How to spot them
- ▸Star-shaped, deep purple-red flowers, in which the pointed sepals are larger and showier than the small petals
- ▸Leaves divided into five to seven toothed leaflets, with a pinkish tinge to the green parts
- ▸Stems up to 50 cm, rising from a creeping rhizome through shallow water
- ▸Look-alike: creeping cinquefoil and the other cinquefoils have yellow flowers and mostly grow on drier ground
How to know it
The only member of its genus in the British flora with flowers that are not yellow
Marsh cinquefoil, per the Wildlife Trusts.
A specialist weevil, Phytobius comari, depends on this plant of bogs and fens
Marsh cinquefoil.
Its common name refers to leaves divided into five, from the French for five-leaf
Cinquefoil — five leaf — marsh cinquefoil.
Widespread in the north and west, but scarcer in the south and East Anglia, this bog plant belongs to the rose family
Marsh cinquefoil.
Quick-fire facts
- •Family Rosaceae, the rose family; the name cinquefoil comes from the French cinq feuilles, 'five leaves'
- •Wildlife Trusts: flowers May to July, up to 50 cm tall, widespread in the north and west, scarcer in the south and East Anglia
- •The Wildlife Trusts call it the only cinquefoil in the UK with magenta rather than yellow flowers
- •Sometimes classified as Potentilla palustris and now often placed in Comarum palustre
- •Provides nectar for bees and hoverflies and supports the weevil Phytobius comari
- •Sometimes called purple marshlocks
- •Native
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Sources
- The Wildlife Trusts — Marsh cinquefoil