Cinquefoil, May 3 and 11

There are a lot of varieties of Potentilla, and many of them look like strawberries. I have trouble distinguishing between Indian strawberry (Potentilla indica or Duchesnea indica) and common cinquefoil, except for the five-lobed leaf. (If you can count in French, the "cinq" should help you remember!) Some have little greenish or white, seed-covered (but tasteless) berries, and a European variety is actually named Potentilla sterilis, "barren strawberry."


Common cinquefoil, Potentilla simplex


( A distinctive variety )