Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Geranium gardneri

Flowers and leaves. Photographer Don Wood, Namadgi National Park, ACT

Flower and leafy stems. Photographer Jackie Miles

Line drawings. a. leaf; segment of seed case; seeds with surface detail; junction in the flower stalk. M Moir, National Herbarium of Victoria, © 2021 Royal Botanic Gardens Board

Common name

Rough Crane's-bill

Family

Geraniaceae

Where found

Open forest and shady areas. Tendency to become weedy. Widespread.

Notes

Prostrate or scambling perennial herb. Stems to 2 m long, surface bristly, with short to long backward pointing to spreading hairs, rarely almost hairless. Leaves 1–4 cm long, kidney shaped to triangular, with 3–7 broad lobes, the lobes divided again into 2-3 segments and sometimes toothed, terminal lobes pointed, or blunt and minutely mucronate, upper surface with scattered curved hairs. Flowers with 5 petals each 4.5–5 mm long, bright pink at the tips, grading to white. Anthers off-white with a fine purple line. Sepals with minute glandular and simple hairs and longer curved or spreading hairs, 3.5–4 mm long, mucro 0.5–1 mm long. Flowers single or paired. Flowers throughout the year but mostly October–April. Seeds wrinkled, with shallow pits and occasional membranous deposits.

All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.

PlantNET description:   http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Geranium~gardneri  (accessed 22 January, 2021)