Abstract: Potentilla cristata Fletcher was described from a specimen collected in north Burma by R. Farrer in 1920 (Fletcher, 1950). The type specimen of P.cristata is deposited in the Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh (E). On the course of revising Chinese Potentilla, we found two sheets of P.cristata in the Herbarium of Kunming Institute of Botany, The Chinese Academy of Sciences (KUN ). In 1982, Qinghai-xizang Expedi- tion Team collected four sheets of Potentilla in the eastern slope of Mt. Gaoligongshan on Gongshan Xian, NW Yunnan at 3 500 m and 3 600 m above sea level (Qinghai-Xizang Exped. 8655). Within the four sheets,two sheets are P. cristata (8655a & b, Fig. 1) and the remaining two P. turfosa Hand.-Mazz. var. gracilescens Sojk (=P. gracillima T. T. Yu et C. L. Li) (8655 c). Potentilla cristata is new to China and we have not seen other specimens of this species than the type and these two sheets.

Key words: Potentthe cristata