Potentilla hickmanii

Potentilla hickmanii
Conservation status
Critically Imperiled  (NatureServe)[1]
Endangered (ESA)[2][3]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Rosales
Family:	Rosaceae
Genus:	Potentilla
Species:	P. hickmanii
Binomial name
Potentilla hickmanii Eastw., 1900

Potentilla hickmanii (called Hickman's potentilla or Hickman's cinquefoil) is an endangered perennial herb of the rose family. This rare plant species is found in a narrowly restricted range in two locations in coastal northern California, in Monterey County, and in very small colonies in San Mateo County. This small wildflower, endemic to western slopes of the outer coastal range along the Pacific Ocean coast, produces bright yellow blossoms through spring and summer.

This species was formerly thought to be growing in Sonoma County, but that population has been recently reclassified as another species, Potentilla uliginosa, and is presumed extinct in that county.^[4]

This plant, along with many other threatened species in the northern California Floristic Province, has been designated as a species meriting protection by the U.S. government, state of California, local governments, and private conservation groups. These designations have led to blueprints for protection of Hickman's potentilla in the form of official endangerment classifications and a species recovery plan, the latter promulgated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.