Flora-Fauna

Geranium molle L.

(First published in Sp. Pl.: 682 (1753); Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, Pl. CLXXXII nº 4; 1970)

• Life-form & habit : Annual herb, softly velvety-pubescent, glandular toward the upper parts; stems ascending or diffuse, 10–40 cm tall.

• Leaves : Leaves orbicular in outline, palmatifid into 7–9 cuneiform, obtuse lobes, the lobes incised-dentate.

• Inflorescence & flowers : Peduncles short; fruiting pedicels deflexed; sepals ovate, shortly mucronate; petals obcordate, pink tinged with violet, 4–5 mm long.

• Fruit : Fruit short, 7–8 mm long; valves reticulate and glabrous.

• Phenology : Flowers from February to June.

• Habitat & elevation : Cultivated ground and roadsides, from the coastal belt to the lower and middle mountain belts and Mediterranean continental localities.

• Lebanese distribution : Recorded by Mouterde from Borj Brajné, Beyrouth, Nahr-el-Kelb, Tripoli, the plain of ‘Akkar, Kaftine, Dlepta, the road to Beit Méri, ‘Abey, Qannoubine, Ta‘naïl–Zahlé and west of Chlifa.

• Native range : Albania, Algeria, Austria, Azores, Baleares, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canary Is., Central European Russia, Corse, Cyprus, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East Aegean Is., East European Russia, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Kriti, Krym, Lebanon-Syria, Libya, Madeira, Morocco, Netherlands, North Caucasus, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Saudi Arabia, Sicilia, Sinai, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine, West Himalaya.

• Introduced range : Alabama, Antipodean Is., Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Argentina South, Arkansas, British Columbia, California, Cape Provinces, Chatham Is., Chile Central, Chile South, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Falkland Is., Georgia, Hawaii, Iceland, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Japan, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mexico Northwest, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New South Wales, New York, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Norfolk Is., North Carolina, Nova Scotia, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Québec, Rhode I., South Australia, South Carolina, Taiwan, Tasmania, Tennessee, Uruguay, Utah, Vermont, Victoria, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Western Australia, Wisconsin.

• Diagnostic remarks : Distinguished in Mouterde’s key by its softly velvety annual habit, orbicular leaves shallowly palmatilobed into 7–9 dentate lobes, rose-violet obcordate petals barely exceeding the calyx, short fruit only slightly longer than the calyx, and transversely reticulate glabrous valves. It differs from Geranium rotundifolium by its obcordate rose-violet petals, shorter fruit and glabrous reticulate valves; G. rotundifolium has non-obcordate pink petals, fruit much longer than the calyx and pubescent valves. It differs from G. pusillum by its reticulate fruit valves and petals slightly exceeding the calyx.