General: Annual to biennial herb from a taproot; stems decumbent to erect, much-branched, spreading-hairy, often glandular above, 5-60 cm tall.
Leaves: Basal leaves few, reduced and soon deciduous; stem leaves opposite, triangular to rounded in outline, 2-7 cm wide, palmately divided into 5 segments, these cleft or toothed 1/2 their length, hairy.
Flowers: Inflorescence of 2 flowers per stalk, the stalk axillary or terminal and 1.5 to 3 times the length of the sepals; petals pink, 4-8 mm long, notched at the tip; sepals equal to the petals, bristle-tipped, the tips 1-2 mm long; stamens 10, fertile, not fused.
Fruits: Carpels, hairy, not wrinkled; styles 1.6-1.9 cm long, the beak 4-5 mm long; seeds oblong, net-veined and pitted.
Moist to mesic forest openings, recent burns and seepage areas in the lowland, steppe and montane zones; frequent in BC east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains, common on SE Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, infrequent in the lower Fraser Valley, absent elsewhere on the coast; N to AK, YT and NT, E to NF and S to IO, IN, CO, UT and N CA.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
BC Ministry of Environment:BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer,
the authoritative source for conservation information in British Columbia.
Synonyms and Alternate Names
Geranium bicknellii var. longipes (S. Watson) Fernald Geranium carolinianum var. longipes S. Watson Geranium nemorale Suksd. Geranium nemorale var. bicknellii (Britton) Fernald
