Tormentil - Potentilla Tormentilla - Hebrides Wildflowers

Medicinal - Herbal Uses
The name Tormentilla comes from the Latin tormina which means colic - this plant is used herbally to treat the condition of colic.

Tormentil to Treat Ulcers
The tormentil root has also been used in the past to treat ulcers and gum disease - when an astringent powder is made.

There are many other conditions that the plant or part of the plant has been used to treat including sunburn, frostbite, upset stomachs.

In the past the roots were boiled in milk for the treatment of diarrhoea

Rose Family - a little like a buttercup
The flowers are similar to the buttercup flowers except that the Tormentil flower has just four petals - whereas buttercups have five petals and are slightly larger. Tormentil has a preference for acid soils, and is rarely found on chalky land and likes acid soil. This plant is actually related to the wild strawberry. The gaelic name for tormentil is cairt làir. One plant produces a solitary flower

Tormentil flowers differ from the flowers produced by all other Potentilla species as well as most other Rosaceae species, as they have four petals instead of the regular five petals in the flowers borne by other plants of the species

Leaves

Tormentil has 5 lobed and toothed Leaves. The leaves are shiny, dark green and deeply-toothed and are are silky underneath. The stem leaves don't have stalks.