Geranium viscosissimum var. viscosissimum Fisch. & C.A. Mey. ex C.A. Mey.
Species Image Gallery
(opens in a new window)
 
TAXONOMY
 
Family: Geraniaceae
Genus: Geranium
 
Species Synonyms: Geranium attenuilobum G.N. & F.F. Jones
Common Names: sticky purple geranium
 
DISTRIBUTION
 
Canada: southern British Columbia – southern Alberta – southwestern Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan: southwestern Saskatchewan; Cypress Hills, Wood Mountain
Ecoregion: Cypress Upland, Mixed Grassland
 
HABITAT
 
Saskatchewan: moist, wooded, shrubby or grassy slopes
Associated species: common yampah, mountain brome, plains rough fescue, Raynold’s sedge
 
RARITY STATUS
 
Provincial Status According
to Harms (2003):
Vulnerable
Nature Conservancy Status:
G5 S2
Saskatchewan Species at
Risk Status:
None
COSEWIC Status:
None
 
Sticky purple geranium is vulnerable because it is rare or uncommon in Saskatchewan and is regionally restricted to the Cypress Hills and surrounding area. This species is usually locally numerous within limited areas. No immediate threats are known for this species.
 
SPECIES DESCRIPTION
 
Height: 30 – 90 cm
Roots: rootstock stout, woody
Stem: perennial, herbaceous, hairy, glandular
Leaves: 5 – 10 cm wide, deeply palmately lobed, lobes 5 – 7, hairs stiff and straight, somewhat glandular
Inflorescence: terminal flower maturing first, usually 2-flowered; inflorescence stalks 2 – 6 cm long, densely glandular-hairy
Flowers: sepals 8 – 12 mm long, awned; petals 14 – 20 mm long, hairy at base for 1/5 of length, pinkish lavender to purple; stamens 10, in two rows; stylar column 3 – 5 cm long
Fruits: capsule splitting from the base upwards into 5 segments, recoiled when dry, glandular-hairy, beak 10 – 14 mm long; seeds 3 – 3.5 mm long, faintly net-veined, brownish
 
GERANIUM KEY FOR SPECIES FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN
 
1 Petals < 12 mm long; anthers < 1 mm long; terminal beak of mature fruit lacking or < 6 mm long
Halenia
1 Petals > 12 mm long; anthers 2 – 3 mm long; terminal beak of mature fruit to over 1 cm long
2
   
2 Mature flower stalks more than 2x longer than sepals; stylar beak of fruit 3 – 5 mm long
G. bicknellii
2 Mature flower stalks equal to or less than 2x longer than calyx; stylar beak of fruit < 2.5 mm long
G. carolinianum var. sphaerospermum
 
3 Petals white or pale pink with darker veins, long hairy 1/2 their length from base; inflorescence with purple glandular hairs
G. richardsonii
3 Petals pinkish, lavender to purple, long hairy 1/5 their length from base; inflorescence with yellow glandular hairs
4
 
4 Lower leaf stalks and stem hairless to hairy but not glandular
G. viscosissimum var. incisum
4 Lower leaf stalks and stem hairy and glandular
G. viscosissimum var. viscosissimum