GERANIUM COLUMBINUM

Family and Genus:- See- GERANIACEAE

Common Names:- Long-storked cranesbill

Homotypic Synonyms:- Geranium pallidum.

Meaning:- Geranium (Gr) Crane. A name used by the Greek physician and

botanist Dioscorides. (refers to the shape of the fruit resembling the head of a

crane).

Columbinum (L) Pigeon-like, dove-like.

General description:- Annual.

Stems:-

1) 10-60 cm, ascending or erect, usually with short, deflexed hairs.

Leaves:-

1) 2-5 cm wide, divided almost to the base into 5-7 contiguous, rhombic, deeply

pinnatifid lobes; segments linear-oblong.

2) Uppermost, opposite, distinctly petiolate.

Flowers:-

1) Peduncles, longer than the subtending leaves. pedicels with short, deflexed

eglandular hairs.

2) Sepals, 9-13 mm, with appressed eglandular hairs, mainly on the veins; arista at

least 2 mm.

3) Petals, 7-10 mm, 2-lobed, emarginate or crenulate at the apex. purplish-pink.

Fruit:-

1) Mericarps, glabrous or sparsely hairy, without ridges

Key features:-

1) Petals, 2-lobed, emarginate or crenulate at the apex.

2) Mericarps, (excluding style) glabrous.

3) Uppermost leaves, opposite.

4) Arista of sepal at least 2 mm.

5) Peduncles, longer than subtending leaf.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Damp meadows and scrub, olive groves, open woodland, road-sides. 0-

1000 (-1400) m.

Distribution:- Fairly common throughout mainland Greece. - Most of Europe,

eastwards to Caucasus, N Iran and W Siberia. Sporadic occurrence on Crete,

mainly in the west.

Flowering time:- Apr to early July.

Photo by:- Artemis Roukounakis