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Potentillas may also be called cinquefoils in English, but they have also been called five fingers and silverweeds. Some species are called tormentils, though this is often used specifically for common tormentil (P. erecta). Others are referred to as barren strawberries, which may also refer to P. sterilis in particular, or to the closely related Waldsteinia fragarioides. Several other cinquefoils formerly included here are now separated in distinct genera - notably the popular garden shrub P. fruticosa, now Dasiphora fruticosa.

Cinquefoils are a prominent part of many ecosystems. In the United Kingdom alone, common tormentil (P. erecta) together with purple moor grass (Molinia caerulea) defines many grassy mires, and grows abundantly in the typical deciduous forest with downy birch (Betula pubescens), common wood sorrel (Oxalis acetosella), and sessile oak (Quercus petraea). In upland pastures on calcareous soil it typically accompanies common bent (Agrostis capillaris), sheep's fescue (Festuca ovina), and wild thyme (Thymus praecox). It is most commonly seen in regions dominated by common heather (Calluna vulgaris), including common lowland heaths with bell heather (Erica cinerea), maritime heaths with spring squill (Scilla verna), submontane heaths dominated by red peat moss (Sphagnum capillifolium) and common bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), and the mountain heathlands of Scotland with alpine juniper (Juniperus communis ssp. alpina). The leaves of cinquefoils are eaten by the caterpillars of many Lepidoptera, notably the grizzled skippers (genus Pyrgus), butterflies of the skipper family. Adult butterflies and moths visit cinquefoil flowers; for example, the endangered Karner blue butterfly (Plebejus melissa samuelis) takes nectar from common cinquefoil (P. simplex). The Polish cochineal (Porphyrophora polonica), a scale insect once used to produce red dye, lives on cinquefoils and other plants in Eurasia. Some, but not all, cinquefoils are insect-pollinated, producing nectar that lures bees, hoverflies, muscid flies, butterflies, true bugs, and ants.