A very common dwarf shrub in the alpine zone locally, as well as across the northern prairies (where it takes on larger stature), here is Dasiphora fruticosa ssp. floribunda:
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Re: Dasiphora fruticosa ssp. floribunda
In the main Norwegian flora it is renamed Dasiphora. Although it isn't native in Norway it is in Sweden it is mentioned in the flora which cover Scandinavia.
I like the dwarf form better than the common garden shrubs!
I have one species though, Dasiphora/Potentilla dahurica (f. var dahurica) that is quite lowgrowing and pretty.
Re: Dasiphora fruticosa ssp. floribunda
In the Flora of China, the name Potentilla fruticosa is retained. In fact, it defines 4 varieties, with a key with characteristics separating them. There are some photos as well.
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200011065
In the Flora of Mongolia, it is also listed as Potentilla fruticosa (with synonym Dasiphora fruticosa), there are 6 photo records to look at:
http://greif.uni-greifswald.de/floragreif/?fam=&gen=Potentilla&spec=fruticosa&show=all&ln=&coll=&det=&teste=&collno=&herb=&phen=&loc=&hab=&flora_search=Taxon
http://greif.uni-greifswald.de/floragreif/?flora_search=Record&fam=&gen=...
I guess it's one of those plants we need to know under two names, Potentilla and Dasiphora. :)
By the way, the Burke Museum of Natural History has a good page on this plant, as Dasiphora.
http://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection.php?Genus=...
I love the dwarf form of Potentilla fruticosa, I have a plant I grew from a cutting taken up on Burrough's Mountain (a "spur" series of mountain peaks off of Mt. Rainier, Washington), and it maintains its dwarf silvery growth. Great seeing your photos of this plant in the wilds of Alberta. But I am completely baffled by the slew of taxonomic revisions, synonyms, multiple genera names, and complete lack of consensus.
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=DAFRF
http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl/search?q=Potentilla+fruticosa
I suppose, part of the problem is that this plant is circumpolar, so it is hard to find consensus among floras from around the northern hemisphere. In the online Flora Europaea, the plant is still Potentilla fruticosa.
http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/cgi-bin/nph-readbtree.pl/dataset=/parent=/fi...