Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Sticky Purple Geranium
Geranium viscosissimum
Geranium family (Geraniaceae)

hairs on the and leaf stems exude a sticky substance with geranium odor that traps insects. When the petals fall off, the and into a 1" long structure that resembles a crane's bill. Sticky Geranium prefers sagebrush and open woods as compared with the Richardson's Geranium, but the two plants may hybridize, producing pink rather than white or purplish flowers.


©2015 Paul Slichter

Description

Sticky, , 16-36" tall, with bright pink-lavender to purple flowers (seldomly white). Flowers comprised of 5 broad petals with dark red-purple veins, rounded to slightly notched. and sparse along stem, or , long-, cut more than 3/4 of their length into 5-7 segments with sharp along the edges. are long-beaked -like .

Field Marks

Pink-purple, 5-petaled flowers with purple veins; plant overall sticky.

© Al Schneider

style -- This is a long and thread-like structure that connects the stigma with the ovary. A flower may have a single style, or several of them.

palmate -- Consisting of leaflets or lobes radiating from the base of the leaf.

A perennial plant lives and blooms for many years.

A herb is a plant whose stems die back to the ground in the winter.

basal leaves -- a leaf that grows lowest on the stem of a plant.

capsule -- a type of simple, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. In most cases the capsule splits apart to release seeds.

Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom.

Glands are plant structures that secrete liquids, salts or other substances. Glands often appear as hairs with a drop of liquid at the end.

Like the teeth on a saw, leaves and other surfaces can have toothed edges.

fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants. It is formed from the ovary after flowering.

In an opposite leaf arrangement the leaves come in pairs with one leaf on each side of a stem.

schizocarp -- a dry fruit formed from more than one carpel (a female reproductive organ) but breaking apart into individual carpels when ripe.

Irregular flowers, such as those of the violet or the pea, are often bilaterally symmeteric. These flowers typically have petals of unequal size or shape.

stigma - The tip of a pistil that receives the pollen.

elongate -- long and thin, slender.

stalk -- The supporting structure of an organ. Examples of stalks are stem, peduncle, petiole, ...

alternate -- leaves alternate along the main stem and are attached singly.

linear -- Long and very narrow like a blade of grass.