At Hays Creek Estuary the Silverweed grows in large colonies. Elsewhere, the root was a considered a delicacy with sites being considered private property controlled by the local royalty.

The plants send out runners like strawberry plants (inset above) so it may be easy to propagate. Hays Creek would make a good site to experiment with this as the mudflat is man made. Literature implies varies between sites (or soil conditions?) as to food quality (taste).

Taxonomy

While Silverweed easily recognized along shorelines, it is not so apparent what its scientific name should be. Plants of Coastal BC treats it as a sub-species of a plant found across North America and northern hemisphere P. anserina. From the Flora of QCIs volume 2 we learn local populations are a tetraploid 2N=28, suggesting to me that those authors who treat it as a unique species e.g., Hulten may have reason.

Beyond that Potentilla itself seems to be a paraphyletic  grouping of plants that have only superficial resemblances and some authors recognize the genus Argentina anserina.