Wild Geranium

This beautiful wildflower is a common species found throughout the park, wherever suitable conditions are found. Growing 1-2.5 feet tall, the wild geranium prefers dry to moist forest edges and can even be found in meadows. It sports a lovely, lavender flower each about an inch in diameter, in clusters of 1-10 in late spring and early summer. Its attractive, deep green leaves contain 5-7 lobes and are deeply veined. They often grow in large clumps. As the seedhead matures, the pistil elongates and five carpels form, each of which contains a seed. The carpels are under tension and when they release the seeds are forcibly pitched outward from the plant dispersing over some distance. The plant becomes dormant in summer and dies back to the ground. Fascinating Facts The word geranium is derived from the Latin “geranos” meaning “crane” and, indeed, the long narrow seed capsule resembles the bill of a crane. Another common name for wild geranium is “cranesbill.” Wild geraniums are becoming popular shade garden flowers.

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