Geranium molle is a tap rooted annual standing approximately 10-40 cm tall with spreading stems. The common name is ‘Dovefoot Geranium’ because of the rounded leaves with 5-7 broad, radiating, coarsely toothed lobes. The flowers of this plant consists of five pink, knotched, 3-5 mm long petals, the flowers often occurring in pairs. The sepals, located below the petals, are markedly pubescent. The fruit is a five parted capsule formed from fused styles into a column 6-8 mm long, with a beak that is 1-2 mm long. As a weedy Eurasian species, this plant is found in fields, lawns, moist clearings and waste places and is very common at low elevations in the Pacific North West, commonly occurring with Stork’s Bill (Erodium cicutarium. Though the herb can grow to be over 30 cm tall, it typically stands less than 15 cm in the environments it is found growing in the Pacific Northwest.
These pictures were taken in Corvallis, OR on the Wildflower loop at Peavy Arboretum in the early spring. The left image is displaying the habit of the entire plant while the right image is a close up of the flower, immature fruit with characteristic fused styles and leaves.
E.N. Kozloff (1976) Plants and Animals of the Pacific Northwest. University of Washington Press, Seattle and London.
Pojar, J. and A. McKinnon (1994) Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Lone Pine Publishing, Washington, Canada.