4. Geranium maculatum L. (wild geranium, spotted crane’s bill)

Pl. 422 g–i; Map 1886

Plants perennial, with stout rhizomes. Aerial stems 20–70 cm long, erect or ascending, moderately pubescent with mostly downward-pointing nonglandular hairs. Leaves basal and 1 or few opposite pairs on the stems, the basal ones long-petiolate, those of the stems short-petiolate. Leaf blades 4–15 cm long, wider than long, depressed-ovate to bean-shaped in outline, deeply 5-lobed, the lobes more or less obovate, mostly sharply pointed at the tip, the margins more shallowly lobed and sharply and coarsely toothed, the surfaces moderately pubescent with nonglandular hairs, those of the upper surface sometimes becoming sparse with age. Inflorescences appearing axillary or less commonly terminal, long-stalked, paired, loose clusters of 2–9 flowers. Individual flower stalks 10–30 mm long, 1.5–4.5 times as long as the sepals, pubescent with spreading to downward-pointing nonglandular hairs. Sepals 6–9 mm long, not becoming enlarged at fruiting, elliptic-ovate, tapered to a short awnlike extension 1.5–3.0 mm long at the tip, pubescent with a mixture of spreading to somewhat downward-pointing shorter nonglandular and longer glandular hairs. Petals 12–23 mm long, broadly obovate, rounded to very slightly notched at the tip, pink or rarely white. Stamens 10. Staminodes absent. Mericarps 25–40 mm long at maturity, the seed-containing basal portion 3.5–4.0 mm long, the lateral surfaces smooth, moderately to densely pubescent with spreading nonglandular hairs 0.2–0.6 mm long, lacking a dorsal ridge or wing, the stylar beak with spreading to loosely ascending nonglandular hairs, the slender extension between the columnar portion and the stigmas 5–8 mm long. Seeds 2.5–3.0 mm long, the surface with a fine network of ridges and pits. 2n=52. April–June.

Scattered to common nearly throughout the state (eastern U.S. west to North Dakota and Oklahoma). Bottomland forests, mesic upland forests, banks of streams and rivers, and shaded ledges of bluffs).

This is a conspicuous and common spring wildflower of bottomlands. It is sometimes cultivated as a garden ornamental. Rare white-flowered plants have been called f. albiflorum (Raf.) House.