Family |
Geraniaceae
Geranium rotundifolium
L.
Geranium rotundifolium L.
(First published in Sp. Pl.: 683 (1753); Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, Pl. CLXXXII nº 2; 1970)
• Life-form & habit : Annual herb, sparsely pubescent, 10–40 cm tall; stems prostrate to ascending, branched from the base.
• Leaves : Leaves with a reniform blade, 3 cm or more across, palmatipartite into 5–7 lobes; lobes trifid into short, obtuse lobules.
• Inflorescence & flowers : Peduncles 1–3 cm long; pedicels spreading or reflexed in fruit; sepals ovate-oblong, ending in a very short mucro; petals purple, 5–7 mm long, obovate, rounded or slightly retuse at the apex, not obcordate.
• Fruit : Fruit 10–15 mm long, much exceeding the calyx; valves pubescent.
• Phenology : Flowers from March to July.
• Habitat & elevation : Cultivated ground and waste places, from the coastal belt to lower and middle mountain localities, also in Mediterranean continental sites.
• Lebanese distribution : Recorded by Mouterde from Saïda, Beyrouth, Nahr Beyrouth, Tripoli, Chemlan, Jour-el-Ballout, ‘Aramoun, Şarada, Qannoubine, Bân, Dimane, Dimane to Hadeth, and Ksara.
• Native range : Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Austria, Azores, Baleares, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canary Is., Corse, Cyprus, Czechia-Slovakia, East Aegean Is., Egypt, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, India, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Kriti, Krym, Lebanon-Syria, Libya, Madeira, Morocco, Northwest European Russia, NW. Balkan Pen., Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Saudi Arabia, Sicilia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, West Himalaya, Xinjiang.
• Introduced range : Argentina Northeast, California, Cape Provinces, Cape Verde, Colorado, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Poland, Primorye, Tasmania, Uruguay.
• Diagnostic remarks : Distinguished in Mouterde’s key by its shallowly divided, orbicular to reniform leaves, non-obcordate purple petals, very short-mucronate sepals, fruit much longer than the calyx, and pubescent fruit valves. It differs from Geranium molle by its non-obcordate petals, longer fruit and pubescent valves; G. molle has obcordate rose-violet petals, a shorter fruit and glabrous transversely reticulate valves. It differs from G. pusillum by its purple, non-obcordate petals and longer fruit.