I found a list of all the plants that grow in the county I was in, specified yellow flowers, and I got it! woot.
Potentilla pulcherrima
The variety with the fern-like leaves is called Potentilla hippiana (which is amusing heh)
yeah dude that's definitely at least in the same genus. it might even be the same species, different variety - there was 2 kinds of my plant growing along the shore (one looked a lot like a weird fern). I'm thinking my plant probably doesn't have leaf growth on the flower stalks due to being...