Family |
Geraniaceae
Erodium malacoides
(L.) L'Hér.
Erodium malacoides (L.) L'Hér.
(First published in W.Aiton, Hortus Kew. 2: 415 (1789); basionym Geranium malacoides L., Sp. Pl. 2: 680 (1753); Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, Pl. CLXXXVI nº 1; 1970, as Erodium malacoides (L.) Willd., syn. G. malacoides L.) (Plants of the World Online)
• Life-form & habit : Annual or biennial herb, rather densely but shortly hirsute; stems ascending and branched.
• Leaves : Basal leaves long-petiolate, with cordate-ovate blades up to 4 cm, entire or slightly lobed, crenate-dentate; upper leaves gradually shorter.
• Inflorescence & flowers : Peduncles glandular, up to 8 cm long, bearing 2–8 flowers; sepals ending in a mucro about 1 mm long; petals lilac, about 5 mm, slightly longer than the sepals.
• Fruit : Fruit 3–4 cm long; carpels hirsute, each with a pit surrounded by a narrow groove.
• Phenology : Flowers from February to April.
• Habitat & elevation : Roadsides and grassy places; common according to Mouterde.
• Lebanese distribution : Recorded by Mouterde from Saïda, Kfar Chima, Hadeth, Khaldé, Beyrouth, Nahr Beyrouth, Tripoli, ‘Abey, ‘Aley and Hasroun.
• Native range : Albania, Algeria, Azores, Baleares, Canary Is., Cape Verde, Chad, Corse, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Egypt, France, Greece, Gulf States, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Kriti, Krym, Lebanon-Syria, Libya, Madeira, Morocco, NW. Balkan Pen., Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Portugal, Sardegna, Sicilia, Sinai, Somalia, Spain, Sudan-South Sudan, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe, Western Sahara, Yemen.
• Diagnostic remarks : Distinguished in Mouterde’s key by its weakly lobed or entire lower leaves, rostrate fruit 3–4 cm long, and carpels with a narrow concentric groove around the pit. It differs from Erodium subtrilobum by its less deeply lobed leaves and its narrower, less conspicuous groove around the carpel pit; E. subtrilobum has leaves almost trilobed and a broader, more marked groove. Mouterde used the authorship E. malacoides (L.) Willd., while POWO and IPNI accept Erodium malacoides (L.) L'Hér. (Plants of the World Online)