Sticky Cinquefoil

Native to California

A 1-3 ft. erect perennial herb with a woody base, often reddish and branching above, with sticky, hairy foliage and abundant glandular hairs at the stem base.  It is occasional in coastal sage scrub, chaparral and oak woodland in moist areas of the San Joaquin Hills, southern foothills and Santa Ana Mountains (Roberts).  The fruit is an achene. Flowering Apr-July.

“Sticky” plants are thought to be protocarnivorous; i.e. capable of digesting arthropods or other organic material trapped on the surface and absorbing the breakdown products for use in the plant.

Two local subspecies, glandulosa and reflexa, the latter named Greene's Cinquefoil by Roberts. Roberts shows ssp. reflexa in Santa Ana Mountains only. 

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