Wildflower to 2 feet tall. Stems hairy. Basal and lower stem leaves with three leaflets, very coarsely toothed, and somehwat hairy, on long stalks. Uppermost leaves simple, carsely toothed and stalkless or nearly so. Flowers mostly at the top, with 5 well-spaced yellow petals, 5 triangular green sepals behind the petals and visible between them, and 5 somewhat traingular leaf-like bracts behind. Blooms in summer.

There is debate on whether this species is native or introduced from Europe, or if both native and introduced populations have been hybridizing. It prefers open areas, particulaly disturbed sites. Look for it along the Bikeway and in the Great South Meadow, especially near any construction.

The five-petaled yellow flowers and the toothed compound leaves mark this as a cinquefoil. This species readily identified by it's 3 leaflets and the well-spaced petals. The three other cinquefoils in the Park, Canada cinquefoil (P. canadensis), Sulfur cinquefoil (P. recta) and common cinquefoil (P. simplex) all have 5 to 7 leaflets arranged like the fingers of a hand (palmate) and have larger petals that touch each other.