Geranium wislizeni

Kearney and Peebles 1969, McDougall 1973, Martin and Hutchins 1980

Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Herbaceous herbs or small shrubs with forked stems and swollen nodes, stems and petioles sparsely pilose, 20-60 cm long. Leaves: Palmately lobed, opposite or basal with stipules, the primary divisions cuneate at the base, coarsely toothed with teeth rounded or obtuse, sparingly hirsute on both surfaces. Flowers: Perfect, petals white or purple-tinged, regular, in cymose or umbel-like clusters, sepals persistent, stamens 10, all fertile, 5 of them longer than the others, style persistent, pilose, stigma branches 14-18 mm long, forming the tip of the beak when mature. Fruits: Style persistent, with the stylar column 15-18 mm long, puberulent pilose becoming recoiled when fruiting. Ecology: Found in oak and oak pi-on juniper woodlands from 3,500-6,000 ft (1067-1829 m); flowering August-September. Notes: A good key for this species are the stigma branches being 14-18 mm long, along with the shorter tips on the sepals and the spreading pubescence on the stems that distinguishes it from G. richardsonii. Ethnobotany: Unknown Synonyms: None Editor: LCrumbacher, 2011 Etymology: Geranium comes from from the Greek geranos, "crane," from the beak-like fruit, while wislizeni in named for Frederick Adolf Wislizenus (1810-1889), Army surgeon, explorer, botanist and plant collector of German birth who travelled extensively in the southwestern United States.