Geranium pratense

Native to Asia, Europe, and the Indian subcontinent. Introduced, cultivated, rarely escaped cultivation, and naturalized in North America, especially in the northeast.

Meadows, grassy areas.

June to July

Bright blue-violet

1′ to 2′

This is a 1′ to 2′ tall, erect, perennial forb that produces a single flowering stem from a horizontal rhizome.

The stems are green and up to 24″ tall. The stems, basal leaf stalks, stem leaf stalks, and flower stalks all have coarse, white, non-glandular (not sticky) hairs.

A few basal leaves rise from the underground rhizome on long, up to 12″, leaf stalks. They are palmately divided into 5 to 9 but usually 7 irregular, deep, wedge-shaped lobes. The lobes are not toothed, notched, or divided in the basal half, but are coarsely toothed and often have secondary lobes in the upper half. The upper surface of the leaves has fine white hairs.

There is only a single pair of leaves on the stem. They are opposite and similar in appearance and features to the basal leaves, but are smaller and usually have only 3 lobes. They are on short leaf stalks that are covered with sticky, glandular hairs.

The inflorescence is a small cluster at the end of a long stalk.

The flowers are 1″ to 1½″ wide with 5 petals and 5 green sepals.

The petals are bright blue-violet and rounded at the tips.

The fruit is a 1″ to 1½″ long, erect capsule in the shape of a crane’s bill, giving this plant another of its common names, Meadow Crane’s-bill.

Bicknell’s cranesbill (Geranium bicknellii) has leafy stems and no basal leaves. The inflorescence is a 2-flowered cluster. The flowers are only ⅓″ to ½″ wide. The flower petals are notched at the tip.

Carolina geranium (Geranium carolinianum) has leafy stems and no basal leaves. The leaves are divided into usually 5 to 9 deeply-cut lobes. The leaf margins have widely spaced, deeply-cut teeth, that may amount to secondary lobes. The inflorescence is a tight cluster of many flowers. The flowers are on short flower stalks that are less than half as long as the sepals. The flowers are dull white to light pink and only ⅓″ wide.

Robert’s geranium (Geranium robertianum) has leafy stems and no basal leaves. The leaves are divided into usually 3 to 5 leaflets that are cut all the way to the base, with at least the terminal leaflet on an evident leaflet stalk. The leaflets are fern-like. The inflorescence is a 2-flowered cluster from the upper leaf axils. It has been recorded only in St. Louis County.

Siberian cranesbill (Geranium sibiricum) has leafy stems and no basal leaves. The flowers occur singly or in pairs. It has been recorded only in Houston and Goodhue Counties.

Wild geranium (Geranium maculatum) does not have glandular, sticky hairs on the flowering stalks or leaf stalks. The leaves are not as finely cut. The petals are rose-purple, pale purple, violet-purple or, rarely, white, with darker fine lines radiating from the center of the flower. It is widespread in the eastern two-thirds of the state.