Definition of: potentilla

(pō′tən·til′ə) noun
Any plant of a large genus (Potentilla) of herbs or, rarely, of shrubs of the rose family, the cinquefoils or five–fingers, having compound leaves and solitary or cymose flowers with a many–bracted calyx. Many are in cultivation for their profuse, showy flowers. [<NL <L potens, -entis, ppr. of posse be able + -illa, dim. suffix]