[Sidenote:= Long-stalked Crane's-bill=
_Gerànium columbìnum_
=Purple
Spring, summer
California, etc.=]
A slender plant, about a foot tall, with pinkish, hairy stems and
pretty leaves, thin in texture, with a dull surface; the seed-vessels
erect, with bristly beaks. The flowers grow in pairs and are less than
half an inch across, with hairy calyxes and notched, purple or magenta
petals. This is naturalized from Europe, and common in the East and
grows along roadsides, at the edges of fields and woods.
There are many kinds of Erodium, three native in the Southwest and
several more introduced, weeds in the Old World and important forage
plants in the West; leaves often unequal, with one stipule on one
side and two on the other. They resemble Geranium, flower and fruit
being nearly the same, but only five of the stamens have anthers, the
alternate ones being scale-like, without anthers; styles hairy inside.
The Greek name means "heron," in allusion to the long beak of the
capsule.
[Sidenote: =Red-stem Filaree=
_Eròdium cicutàrium_
=Pink
All seasons
West, etc.=]
Though not native, this is the commonest kind, in the interior and
semi-arid regions, and most valued for forage. When young it forms
rosettes close to the ground, but grows taller and more straggling. The
stems are often reddish; the leaves somewhat hairy; the flowers small,
in clusters of four to eight, with four bracts at the base; the petals
purplish-pink, with darker veins, and hairy at the base, the two upper
petals slightly smaller; the sepals tipped with one or two bristles.
The ovary is beaked by the united styles, the beak, when the seeds
ripen, separating into five, long tails, which twist spirally when
dry and untwist when moistened. This is common west of the Rockies,
blooming more or less all the year round, varying in size in different
soils. Filaree is a corruption of the Spanish Alfilerilla, from
"alfiler," a "pin." Other names are Pinkets, Pinclover, Storksbill, and
Clocks, so-called by children because they amuse themselves by watching
the tails twist about like the hands of a clock. White-stem Filaree,
_E. moschàtum_, common in rich soil, has larger, coarser leaves and a
faint scent.
[Illustration: Long-stalked Crane's-bill--Geranium columbinum.