MEADOW CRANE'S-BILL

Geranium pratense

Crane's-bill (Geranium) Family [Geraniaceae]  

month8jun month8june month8jul month8july month8Aug month8sep month8sept

status
statusZnative
flower
flower8blue
inner
inner8white
morph
morph8actino
petals
petalsZ5
stem
stem8round
sex
sexZbisexual

13th July 2011, Blackleach, Walkden, Manchester. Photo: © RWD
A perennial flower which grows to 60cm high (1m at extreme).


13th July 2011, Blackleach, Walkden, Manchester. Photo: © RWD
The leaves are between 7 and 15mm across with 7 to 9 lobes, each lobe being cut into several long tapering teeth from half-way to the end.


25th June 2004, Grindleford, Derbyshire. Photo: © RWD
The flowers are a violet-blue with 5 petals rounded at the end.


22nd June 2007, Loop Lines, Walkden. Photo: © RWD
Some of the spent flowers have started to grow a long, green, tubular beak, with the style and stigma at the end (top left) whilst others have yet to open (top right). Both droop.


13th July 2011, Blackleach, Walkden, Manchester. Photo: © RWD
The two flower buds on the centre right are yet to open whilst those on the left are turning to seed with their extending beaks. There is a smaller leaf just below the inflorescence which is deeply cut into 7 shortish toothed leaflets. The flower at the top has only 5 (out of its 10 stamens) which have a T-bar anther atop. The flowers, like the fruits or buds, are always in pairs.


5th August 2004, Grange Over Sands, Cumbria. Photo: © RWD
This specimen has an anther, which are indigo in colour, on all 10 of its filaments.


22nd June 2007, Loop Lines, Walkden. Photo: © RWD
The flowers have pale translucent branched veins.


13th July 2011, Blackleach, Walkden, Manchester. Photo: © RWD
There are 5 sepals each with a long thin spike at the tip. Two sepals are wider than the other 3. There are 3 red, long and tapering


13th July 2011, Blackleach, Walkden, Manchester. Photo: © RWD
The fruits are on paired stalks which are bent at about 90°. The end of the fruits retains the long style (with its short discoidal stigma for a while before that withers). All covered in short hairs.


13th July 2011, Blackleach, Walkden, Manchester. Photo: © RWD
The sepals are not all the same width. Some of the dense glandular hairs also look reddish here.


13th July 2011, Blackleach, Walkden, Manchester. Photo: © RWD
Several stigmas are peeping out of this as-yet unopened flower, some with indigo coloured T-bar anthers, some without (probably a 5 / 5 split between filaments with anthers and those without.


13th July 2011, Blackleach, Walkden, Manchester. Photo: © RWD
The stems are often reddish. The edges of the leaves are also reddish on this specimen.


13th July 2011, Blackleach, Walkden, Manchester. Photo: © RWD
Meadow Crane's-bill often has glandular hairs over most of the plant.


22nd June 2007, Loop Lines, Walkden. Photo: © RWD
The leaves are between 4 to 8cm across. These are closer to the ground and large than those leaves higher up the stem.


14th July 2007, Walkden. Photo: © RWD
The leaves have between 7 and 9 lobes; here 7, which are cut almost to their bases (greater than 6/7th of the way to the base).


Some similarities: The leaves have a distinct resemblance to those of Monk's-hood except that in the case of Meadow Crane's-bill the extent of a leaf is nearly circular; however the jizz of the plant and flower are totally different and the one cannot be mistaken for the other.

More likely to be found a an escapee from gardens. There are numerous varieties of cultivars that may escape, the most frequent being that of Purple Crane's-bill

It is native and is to be found in Meadows, open woodlands, permanent pastures, beside roads and lowland hay meadows growing in calcareous or base-rich soils to an altitude of about 550 metres. Elsewhere it is commonly cultivated and widely naturalised beyond its native range described earlier.


USE BY BUTTERFLIES
LAYS EGGS ON CATERPILLAR CHRYSALIS BUTTERFLY
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  Geranium pratense  ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ Geraniaceae  

Distribution
family8Cranesbill family8Geranium family8Geraniaceae
 BSBI maps
genus8geranium
Geranium
(Crane's-bills)

MEADOW CRANE'S-BILL

Geranium pratense

Crane's-bill (Geranium) Family [Geraniaceae]  

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