Potentilla erecta tends cover our moorlands and uplands with little yellow flowers flat on the ground throughout the summer but can be found at any height and on many different soils. It has four petals when so many of the Potentilla genus have five but its small size and characteristic leaves make it fairly easy to identify. The name comes from the Latin tormina (colic) because the roots boiled in milk were used to cure diarrhoea which is a "torture".

Apart a a few places around The Wash in England, Potentilla erecta is found everywhere in the British Isles and Ireland - even on the more remote Islands such as the outer Hebrides, Shetland and St. Kilda.

Potentilla erecta Tormentil Locahn Ovie near Newtonmore, Scotland 26th July 2009 Previous   Next

Potentilla erecta Tormentil

Craggie House grounds, Daviot Scotland 26th June 2011

Added on December 3rd 2004, updated July 20th 2011