description
Geranium maculatum is a woodland perennial plant of the Geraniaceae family.
It grows to 60 cm tall, producing upright usually unbranched stems and
flowers in spring to early summer. The leaves are palmately lobed with five
or seven deeply cut lobes, 10–12.5 cm broad, with a petiole up to 30 cm long
arising from the rootstock. They are deeply parted into three or five
divisions, each of which is again cleft and toothed. The flowers are 2.5–4
cm diameter, with five rose-purple, pale or violet-purple (rarely white)
petals and ten stamens; they appear from April to June in loose clusters of
two to five at the top of the stems. The fruit capsule, which springs open
when ripe, consists of five cells each containing one seed joined to a long
beak-like column 2–3 cm long (resembling a crane's bill) produced from the
center of the old flower. The rhizome is long, and 5 to 10 cm thick, with
numerous branches. The rhizomes are covered with scars, showing the remains
of stems of previous years growth. When dry it has a somewhat purplish color
internally. Plants go dormant in early summer after seed is ripe and
dispersed.
common names & nomenclature
The fruit capsule resembles a crane’s bill, thus the common name cranesbill.
Also known as:
spotted cranesbill, wild cranesbill, storksbill, alum root, alum bloom,
chocolate flower, shameface, old maid's nightcap, dove's foot, crow foot,
spotted geranium, wood geranium, wild geranium
