Flower:

Flowers are in tightly packed clusters of 2 to 6 flowers at the top of the main stem. Individual flowers are ½ to ¾ inches across with 5 white to creamy colored petals, 5 sharply pointed green sepals about as long as the petals, and around 20 golden yellow stamens around a golden yellow center. One plant has 1 to several clusters. Only a few flowers are open at a time.

Leaves and stem:

Leaves are compound in groups of 7 to 11. Most leaves are basal with long stems; there are often a few leaves alternating up the stem. Leaflets are up to 3 inches long and 2 inches wide, generally oval, very hairy, coarsely toothed and often double toothed. The stem leaves are smaller than the basal leaves, may have fewer than 7 leaflets and little or no leaf stem. Leaflets at the tip end of the leaf are largest. The main stem is densely covered in light brown hairs and is a little sticky.

Fruit:

The sepals fold up, creating a pod-like container, and eventually turn dark brown. Inside are many small brown seeds.

Notes:

The flowers of Tall Cinquefoil might be confused with Sulphur Cinquefoil, but the leaves are distinctly different. Sulphur Cinquefoil has palmate leaves.