Geranium pusillum L.
small-flowered cranesbill
Taprooted annual, to over 30 cm tall, but often much less, densely clothed in short hairs. Stems decumbent to spreading, often branched from the base. Lvs with long eglandular, and short glandular hairs. Lower lvs long-petiolate. Lamina palmately lobed, 1-3.5 × 1.5-4.5 cm, reniform to almost orbicular; lobes 5-9, extending 3/4 way to petiole, 2-3-lobed; secondary lobes oblong to obovate. Upper lvs smaller and simpler with shorter petioles. Fls numerous, often paired; peduncles short; pedicels usually longer than peduncles, curving upwards after flowering, densely clothed in glandular hairs. Sepals 2-3 mm long (to c. 4 mm at fruiting), ± ovate, densely clothed in long, white, pilose and short glandular hairs, mucronate. Petals 2.5-3.5 mm long, obovate, emarginate, pale mauve; claw short. Stamens 10, 4-5 reduced to staminodes (lacking anthers); filaments whitish; anthers mauvish brown. Mericarps 1.5-2 mm long, densely clothed in appressed hairs on outer face. Seed smooth.
N.: Wellington area; S.: mainly in Canterbury and Otago, also collected in Southland.
Europe, temperate W. Asia eastwards to Himalaya 1926
Waste places around houses, farmyards, railway yards, lawns, cultivated arable land, rough pastures.
FL Oct-Feb.
This sp. is similar in habit to G. molle, but can always be distinguished by its hairy but otherwise smooth mericarps. Also, G. pusillum has only 5-6 fertile anthers, is usually less hairy than G. molle and generally has smaller petals.
