Geranium molle L.
dove's foot cranesbill
Taprooted, annual herb, with basal rosette of lvs, densely covered in short or long hairs. Stems decumbent or ± ascending, pinkish, to c. 50 cm long. Petiole of rosette and lower cauline lvs to 14 cm long, densely covered in patent white hairs. Lamina palmately lobed, 1.5-5 × 1.5-6 cm, reniform to orbicular, densely covered in long white hairs; lobes 5-9, extending to c. 3/4 way to petiole, usually with 3 oblong to obovate, obtuse to rounded, secondary lobes towards apex. Upper lvs smaller and simpler with shorter petioles. Fls numerous, usually paired; peduncles with dense, long, white, eglandular and short glandular hairs; pedicels similar but often < peduncles and curving upwards after flowering. Sepals 2-3.5 mm long, ovate, with hairs as on pedicels, mucronate. Petals (3)-4-6 mm long, obovate, rosy pink or pink, deeply emarginate; claw very short. Filaments whitish; anthers mauve. Mericarps c. 1.5 mm long, broad, glabrous, with prominent pale transverse ridges. Seeds smooth.
N.; S.; St.; K., Ch., C.: a common weed throughout, but not collected recently from K. and C.
Temperate Eurasia E. to Himalaya, N. Africa, Macaronesia 1852
Waste places, roadsides, riverbanks, open pastures, cultivated ground.
FL Sep-Feb.
