Wild Geranium

Geranium maculatum

Geraniaceae

Growth Habit

Herbaceous

Propagation

Seed Treatment and Storage: Store seed moist and provide cold/moist stratification. Germinates in first year if seeds do not dry out; may take 2 years if desiccated.

Biocultural Value

Wild geranium was used by the Cherokee, Choctaw, Haudenosaunee, Menominee, Meskwaki, and Ojibwa for medicinal purposes, including for relief from a sore mouth, as a laxative, as an antiseptic, and as an emetic.

Wildlife Value

A specialist mining bee, Andrena distans, collects pollen only from flowers in the genus Geranium. Other bees, including small carpenter bees (Ceratina spp.), sweat bees (Lasioglossum spp.), bumble bees (Bombus spp.), sweat bees (Halictus spp.) and mason bees (Osmia spp.) also visit wild geranium flowers. Fruitworm beetles (Byturus unicolor) mate on the flowers and also feed on the nectar and pollen. Wild geranium is a larval host plant for the leafmining moth (Parectopa geraniella) and the white-marked tussock moth (Orgyia leucostigma).

Location

Fall Creek Gorge, Fischer Old-growth Forest, Polson Preserve, Ringwood Ponds, Steep Hollow Creek, Mundy Wildflower Garden

Cultivation

A 12-18" tall plant with pink flowers.

Light: sun to light shade

Moisture and Soil: moist to dry - plant rhizome near soil surface

Description

Plants reach 2' in height, the stems appressed-pubescent; leaves deeply 3-5-parted; inflorescence erect, terminal, branched, the pedicels glandless, strigose; flowers 1" across, the petals rose-purple, entire, barbate-ciliate at the base, the filaments short-ciliate.

Source of plant

Pam Shade, Richters

USDA Hardiness Zone

3

Special characteristics

medicinal/pharmaceutical

Climate Change Sensitivity

Over the period from 1986 to 2015, Geranium maculatum bloomed an average of 1.3 days later.