A perennial from the Rosaceae family, generally evergreen, this cinquefoil is native to the far east of Asia, from Japan to Sakhalin and southern Kamchatka, under a strongly maritime climate with mild winters in the south, harsher but snowy in the north. It colonizes sunny to semi-shaded rocky slopes, on well-drained gravelly substrates, with moderate nitrogen and neutral reaction.
It forms a central rosette from a taproot, emitting short stolons that give rise to new rosettes. The foliage reaches 25 cm in height; the leaves are trifoliate, with broadly oval leaflets, strongly toothed and very hairy on both sides, of medium green, crinkled and generously sized for the genus — remarkable enough to catch the eye outside of flowering.
The flowers are bright golden yellow, with five wide and slightly overlapping petals, with radiating orange veins forming a well-defined colored eye. The flowering stems rise to 35-40 cm. In its natural habitat, flowering extends from June to August. In cultivation under our climates, it is concentrated over about three weeks between mid-May and early June.
It requires well-drained, loose, and moderately rich soil, in full sun.