Geranium macrorrhizum, L.

1. G. macrorrhizum L. View in CoL View at ENA , Sp. Pl. 680 (1753).

Perennial, with stout, horizontal rhizome. Stem (6-)20-50cm, erect, with 0-1 pairs of cauline leaves as well as the bracts. Leaves 4-10 cm wide, fragrant, divided for 75-80% of the radius into 5-7 obovate, pinnatifid lobes; segments 3-4 on each side, obtuse but conspicuously mucronate. Inflorescence with 2-3 peduncles subtended by 2 bracts, which are subsessile and 3- to 5-lobed but otherwise like the basal leaves; lateral peduncles each with 4-9 nodding flowers in a dense corymb or umbel. Sepals erect, reddish; petals c. 15 mm, with claw at least half as long as the obovate, entire, patent or deflexed, dull purplish-red limb. Stamens 18-22 mm; filaments curved. Style up to 40 mm, of which the terminal half is not thickened and drops off before the fruit ripens. Mericarps glabrous, without ridges. 2/7 = 46. Shady places, usually among mountains; calcicole. • Balkan peninsula, S. & E. Carpathians, S. Alps, Appennini ; cultivated elsewhere for ornament and often naturalized. Al Au Bu Ga G r It Ju Rm *Rs (W) [Be Br Ge Rs (K)]. Dwarf mountain plants from Greece are often nearly glabrous and with very small, scarious bracts; they approach closely to 2 but differ in the shape of the leaf-lobes.