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Species Image Gallery (opens in a new window) |
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| THE GERANIUM FAMILY | |||||||||
| The geraniums are commonly used as
ornamentals in flower gardens because of their brightly coloured flowers
and unique smell. The geraniums native to Saskatchewan are not as brightly
coloured as the flowers planted in gardens, but they can still be very attractive
plants. Geraniums are herbaceous in this part of the world. The stems are erect and may be covered in glandular hairs. The leaves are palmately or pinnately lobed or compound. The flowers are in clusters called cymes, where the flower at the top matures first. Occasionally the flowers are solitary in the upper leaf axils. The flowers have five sepals and petals and 10 stamens. The sepals are usually green and the petals are often purple or white. The stamens are in two rows and are fused at the base of the filament. A unique feature of the geraniums is the stylar beak which elongates in fruit and protrudes from the persistent sepals. The fruit is and thin and splits into five one-seeded segments that recoil when dry. |
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| WHITE WILD GERANIUM | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Geranium richardsonii | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| White wild geranium grows as tall as 80 cm from a short root. The stems are hairless or sparsely glandular hairy. The lower leaves are stalked but the upper leaves are not. All of the leaves are deeply divided into three to seven segments and are covered in stiff hairs. The inflorescences are stalked and have purple glands. It is common to see two flowers in the inflorescence. The sepals are green and have a short awn. The petals are white with pink or purple veins and are long hairy on the inner surface. The fruit is a capsule that splits from the bottom up into five segments. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| White wild geranium grows in wooded ravines, open woods, meadows, and thickets. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This species is found in southwestern Saskatchewan in the Cypress Upland ecoregion. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| White wild geranium is vulnerable because it is rare or uncommon in Saskatchewan and is regionally restricted to the Cypress Hills area. This species is usually locally numerous over relatively large areas. No immediate threats are known for this species. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY WHITE WILD GERANIUM | |||||||||
| * Are petals white with pink or purple veins? * Do the petals have hairs towards the inside of the flower? * Are the leaves divided into three to seven segments? * Did you find it in southwestern Saskatchewan? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found white wild geranium! | |||||||||
