Common Cinquefoil is a native perennial that is initially erect but short, reaching only to 12 inches high, then declining with stems trailing along the ground that root at nodes. These runners (stolons) have fine hair. The stems and runners are green at first but become reddish with age.

The stem leaves are alternate along the stem and are palmately divided into 5 leaflets. Each leaflet is lanceolate in shape and can be up to 3 inches long and 3/4 inch wide; they have coarse teeth except near the base, blunt tips, dark green on top and may have fine hair on the underside. Basal leaves are not always persistent as the plant ages. These are more oval to elliptic overall, palmate with 5 to sometimes 7 leaflets with long hairs.

The inflorescence is a solitary 1/2 inch wide flower on a long, thin stalk that rises from the leaf axils of the stolon nodes.

Flowers have the 5 yellow petals, narrowed at the base and rounded at the tip which may show a notch. The hypanthium is small, only 3–5 mm in diameter. The 5 sepal lobes are green with triangular shape tips that are just shorter than the petals. Immediately beneath the sepals are 5 small bractlets that are as long as but slightly narrower than the sepals - and hairy, as is the flower stalk. There are 20 to 35 stamens with yellow filaments and yellow anthers and these surround a flattened central yellow disk structure supporting thread-like styles of the numerous 20 to 50 carpels.

Seed: Fertile flowers form dry achenes, 0.9 to 1.2 mm long, that are without hair and fall from the plant and are scattered by the movement of the wiry flower stalks.

Habitat: Common Cinquefoil prefers full sun in well drained soils in moist to dry conditions. It spreads primarily by means of its runners and can form colonies. It is primarily found in disturbed areas or, since it is so short, on the edges of taller prairie vegetation. It can be a pest in fields where a cover crop is not sowed.

Names: The genus name, Potentilla, is from the Latin word potens, meaning 'powerful' and refers to the medicinal power of some species of the genus which have medicinally properties. The species, simplex, is a term used to refer to simple unbranched stems. The author name for the plant classification - “Michx.” is for Andre Michaux (1746-1802), French botanist who made many exploring expeditions in the U.S. collecting and cataloguing many species. Two important works of his are the Histoire des chênes de l'Amérique septentrionale (1801 - Oaks of North America), and the Flora Boreali-Americana (2 vols., 1803 - this was published posthumously and included the description of this plant). His son Francois, traveled with him and the father’s notes were later used for the 3-volume North American Sylva, for which Thomas Nuttall provided some supplements. The various common names about 'five fingers' refer to the 5-part leaf. 'Old-field' has to do with habitat as it invades old fields that are not tilled and sown.

Comparisons: This plant is similar to many cinquefoils with the 5 palmate leaflets and yellow flowers. The short height and the stolons should identify this plant except for the similar P. canadensis, or Dwarf Cinquefoil which is smaller and has blunter more ovate leaflets, however, P. canadensis has never been found in Minnesota although both Eloise Butler and Martha Crone thought they had it in the Wildflower Garden - see "notes" below.