GERANIUM TUBEROSUM

Family and Genus:- See- GERANIACEAE/G. TUBEROSUM Group

Common Names:- Tuberous cranes-bill

Homotypic Synonyms:- None

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

botanist Dioscorides referring to to the shape of the fruit resembling the head of a

crane.

Tuberosum (L) Swollen, tuberous.

General description:- Short to medium, hairy perennial.with a small, globose

tuber.

Stem:-

1) Solitary, branched above.

Leaves:-

1) Greyish-green, mostly basal 6-8 cm wide, long-pedicellate, with 3-6 lobed

segments arranged in two rows along the stem.

2) Cauline leaves absent.

Flowers:-

1) Purplish-pink with darker veins, 14-24 mm, borne in cymes.

2) Lobes, of the lower bracts toothed pinnatifid.

3) Pedicels, hairs eglandular.

4) Sepals, 4-7 mm.

5) Petals, 8-13 mm. notched.

6) Styles, 18-20 mm in fruit, stout and hairy right up to the stigmas.

Fruit:-

1) Mericarps, hairy, without ridges.

2) Beak of the fruit abruptly contracted into a very short style (less than 0.5 mm).

Key features:-

1) Petals, 8-13 mm.

2) Cauline leaves, other than bracts absent.

3) Lobes, of basal leaves with 3-6 segments on each side.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Weed of traditional agriculture, in cereal fields, vineyards and orchards. 0-

1200 m.

Distribution:- Scattered in E Greece, lacking in the west. - C & E Mediterranean

region; widespread and variable in SW Asia. Limited distribution on Crete, mainly

central and eastern.

Flowering time:- Mid-Mar to early May.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton