Montane, subalpine. Meadows. Summer.
Above: Near Narraguinnep Natural Area, San Juan National Forest, June 11, 2021.
Left: Turkey Spring Trail, June 26, 2007.

This white or creamy-yellow wildflower is found in dry to moderately moist meadows.  Stems are 5-30 inches tall and usually unbranched and leaves are serrated and broken into five to seven leaflets.  Leaflets are similar to the very common, yellow-flowered Potentilla pulcherrima, but the overall leaf shape is ladder-like whereas P. pulcherrima leaves are palmate. 

D. arguta is not a common plant and it is even more difficult to find because it often grows in tall grasses, as the picture at left shows.

"Drymocallis" is Greek for "woodland trail".  "Arguta", "sharply-toothed", refers to the leaves.

Linnaeus named the Potentilla genus in 1753, and Frederick Pursh named this species, Potentilla arguta in 1814 from a specimen collected by John Bradbury.  Per Axel Rydberg renamed the plant Drymocallis arguta in 1898.

See also Potentillas and Geum aleppicum and Geum macrophyllum.

Montane, subalpine. Meadows. Summer.
Turkey Spring Trail, June 26, 2007.

Montane, subalpine. Meadows. Summer.
Near Narraguinnep Natural Area, San Juan National Forest, June 11, 2021.

Glandular, i.e., sticky, hairs glisten on sepals, stems, and leaves.

Range map © John Kartesz,
Floristic Synthesis of North America

State Color Key

Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state

County Color Key

Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Native species, but adventive in state
Eradicated
Questionable presence

Range map for Drymocallis arguta