Common Stork's Bill

A plant of variable size and pubescence. Common in hills from 700-2400 m. According to Davis (Fl. Turk. 2:485) differs from the subsp. bipinnatum in having a faint furrow below the pit and the acute lobes of the leaves.

This species is naturalized as a weed in many temperate areas.

Annual 4-40 cm, erect or straggling, pubescent-glandular or eglandular. Leaves 20-50 x 8-27 mm, pinnatisect, pubescent-glandular; segments pinnati-partite-sect into small acute lobes. Stipules broad lanceolate-ovate, sometimes connate, 2.5-5 mm long, ciliate, pubescent, scarious. Peduncles 1.5-6.5 cm long, 2-8-flowered, reflexed in fruit, patent-glandular. Bracts connate, ovate, acute, ciliate. Sepals 3-4 mm long, up to 6 mm in fruit, ovate-lanceolate, glandular-pubescent, apiculate, margin membranous. Petals scarcely exceeding sepals, obovate, reddish-purple, cuneate, claw ciliate, apex 1-2-setose. Filaments (of functional stamens) ± 2.5 mm long, base dilated, sparsely pubescent; staminodes shorter, lanceolate, glabrous. Beak 2.5-3.5 mm long, appressed pubescent. Mericarps 5.5 mm long, with bristle-like suberect yellow hairs, faintly furrowed below the pits.

Annuals 10-15(-40) cm tall. Stems numerous, erect to decumbent. Stipules triangular-lanceolate, 2-6 mm. Leaves opposite or alternate; leaf blade triangular-lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 5-18 cm, pinnately divided to pinnately cleft, 5-12-lobed with basal ones more deeply incised, both surfaces appressed pilose. Pseudoumbels conspicuously longer than leaves, with (2 or)3-10 hermaphrodite flowers; peduncle with glandular and nonglandular trichomes. Pedicel 0.8-1.7 cm. Sepals ovate, 3-6 mm, glandular and hirsute, apex acute. Petals uniformly purple or 2 with a basal black spot, obovate, 5-12 mm. Mericarp 3-7 mm, with apical pit, with or without ridges or furrows; awn not plumose. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Jul-Oct. 2n = 20, 36, 40, 48, 54.

Distribution: Europe, N. Africa, S.W. Asia, Arabia, Caucasus, Siberia, C. Asia.

Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Jiangsu, Jilin, Liao-ning, Nei Mongol, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, W Sichuan, Taiwan, Xinjiang, W Xizang [Afghanistan, NW India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan; N Africa, SW Asia, Europe].

Fl. Per.: March-April.

Meadows, flood plains, gravel areas, disturbed areas; 700-2200 m.

Geranium cicutarium Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 680. 1753.