Tormentil
Potentilla erecta
Family · Rosaceae · Harmless
The small yellow four-petalled flower of mountain wet meadows and bogs, and the detail matters: four petals, in a genus where everyone else has five. It was one of Europe's most used astringents.
Uplands · Fields and pasture · Oak woods
Also known asseptfoil, bloodroot
How to tell it
Count the petals: four, yellow, which sets it apart at once from all other cinquefoils and the buttercups. Leaves with three leaflets and two large stipules that look like leaflets, giving an effect of five. A root that turns red in air.
What it is confused with
Creeping cinquefoil
Potentilla reptans
The petals settle it: four on tormentil, five on creeping cinquefoil. And cinquefoil runs along the ground by runners, tormentil grows in an upright tuft.
Open sheet →What it is for
The root is extremely rich in tannins and was a reference astringent across Europe, besides tanning hides and dyeing red. Traditional internal use, not a recommendation.
With documented traditional uses. Not a therapeutic indication and not a dose.