Argentina pacifica

Argentina pacifica, sometimes called pacific silverweed,[1] silverweed cinquefoil,[2] or simply silverweed,[3] is a low-growing perennial (6") with pinnately compound green leaves with silvery undersides. It is a member of the species aggregate known as Argentina anserina or Potentilla anserina.[4] The yellow, saucer-shaped flowers appear late spring through summer. Pacific silverweed spreads very quickly in moist areas. Preferring salt marshes, river estuaries and shorelines, they are often seen growing alongside springbank clover.[5] They need sun and regular water.

Argentina pacifica
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Genus: Argentina
Species:
A. pacifica
Binomial name
Argentina pacifica
Synonyms
  • Potentilla pacifica Howell
  • Potentilla anserina subsp. pacifica (Howell) Rousi

Pacific silverweed is important in Pacific Northwest coastal indigenous cultures. Indigenous people dig for its edible roots. As an important vegetable, families maintained rights to access patches through potlatch law. [6] New plants can grow from small root fragments, and with some attention families could guarantee patches persisted for generations "over hundreds, even thousands of years".[7]

Northwest Coast peoples used to dig them in spring with yew-wood shovels before pit-cooking them or boiling them with eulachon grease. Cooked roots have a slightly bitter sweet-potato flavour. Northwest Coast peoples also washed them or mashed them into cakes and dried them for winter.[5]

References
  1. Chuck Kozak (1999). "An incomplete and ever-evolving catalogue of native plants of Montara Mountains". Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  2. Paul Slichter. "Cinquefoils West of the Cascade Mountains of Oregon and Washington". Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  3. "Washington Native Plant Society". Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  4. Arne Rousi (1965). "Biosystematic studies on the species aggregate Potentilla anserina L.". Annales Botanici Fennici. 2 (1): 47–112. JSTOR 23724290.
  5. Turner, Nancy (2004). Plants of Haida Gwaii (Second ed.). Winlaw BC: SONO NIS PRESS. pp. 140–141. ISBN 1-55039-176-3.
  6. Turner, Nancy (9 January 2017). ""Expert Opinion of Dr Nancy J. Turner"". Nancy Turner.
  7. Deur, Douglas (2005). Keeping it Living: Traditions of Plant Use and Cultivation on the Northwest Coast of North America. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press. ISBN 0774812672.


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