Geranium dissectum L.
cut-leaved cranesbill
Hairy, annual, taprooted herb, with large basal lf rosette and ± ascending branches to c. 50 cm long. Stems ± densely hairy with the hairs ± retrorse. Petioles to c. 20 cm long, longest in rosette lvs, with hairs as on stems. Lamina 3.5-8 × 3.5-9 cm, orbicular or suborbicular, with appressed hairs, especially on veins below; lobes 5-7, extending almost to the petiole, again pinnately lobed or 3-lobed, especially in rosette lvs; ultimate segments linear or narrow-oblong, acute. Fls usually in pairs; peduncles usually > pedicels, both densely hairy with eglandular and often pink-tipped glandular hairs. Sepals 5-8 mm long (excluding awn), ovate, densely clothed in long, white, eglandular and short glandular hairs, aristate with awn (1)-2-3 mm long. Petals 3.5-5 mm long, obovate, pink or rose, emarginate; claw short. Filaments whitish; anthers blue. Mericarps 2.5-3 mm long, with white, patent hairs. Seeds prominently isobilaterally alveolate.
N.: commonest from Taranaki northwards; S.: Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury (at least S. to Ashburton); K. (Raoul, but not collected recently), Ch.
Europe, W. Asia, Macaronesia 1940
Roadsides, waste places around buildings, rough pasture, crops.
FL Nov-Feb.
G. dissectum has recently become a prominent weed of arable land in N. and E. South Id.
