42. Potentilla chinensis Seringe in Candolle, Prodr. 2: 581. 1825.
委陵菜 wei ling cai
Herbs perennial. Roots robust, terete, slightly woody. Flowering stems erect or ascending, 20–70 cm tall, sparsely pubescent and sericeous-villous. Radical leaves 4–25 cm including petiole; stipules brown, submembranous, abaxially white sericeous-villous; petiole pubescent and sericeous-villous; leaf blade pinnate with 5–15 pairs of leaflets; leaflets opposite or alternate, at intervals of 5–8 mm, sessile, oblong, obovate, or oblong-lanceolate, 1–5 × 0.5–1.5 cm, gradually becoming smaller toward leaf blade base, abaxially white tomentose, white sericeous-villous on veins, adaxially pubescent or glabrescent, midvein concave, margin revolute, pinnatifid or parted to midvein or nearly so, apex obtuse or acute; segments triangular-ovate, triangular-lanceolate, oblong-lanceolate, or linear; cauline leaves resembling radical ones but leaflets fewer; stipules green, herbaceous, margin sharply serrate. Inflorescence corymbose-cymose. Flowers 0.8–1(–1.3) cm in diam.; pedicel 0.5–1.5 cm, densely pubescent, with lanceolate bracts at base. Sepals triangular-ovate, apex acute; epicalyx segments fasciated or lanceolate, ca. 1/2 as long as sepals, abaxially pubescent and slightly sericeous-pilose, apex narrowly acute. Petals yellow, broadly obovate, slightly longer than sepals, apex emarginate. Style subterminal, base slightly thickened, slightly papillate; stigma dilated. Achenes dark brown, ovoid, markedly rugose. Fl. and fr. Apr–Oct.
Sparse forests, forest margins, thickets, meadows, grasslands, mountain slopes, ravines; 400--3200 m. Anhui, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan [Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Russia (Far East)].
