Erodium cicutarium

ERODIUM cicutarium
Common Storksbill,
Hemlock Storksbill

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Type:
Biennial

Height: 2-12" (5-30cm)

Flowering Time: Summer

Flower Colour: Mauve

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Botanical Classification:

Class:
Angiospermae (Angiosperms)

Subclass: Dicotyledonae (Dicotyledons)

Superorder: Rosidae (Rose Superorder)

Order: Geraniales (Geranium Order)

Family: Geraniaceae (Geranium Family)

Genus: Erodium (Storksbill)

Species: cicutarium (like Cicuta - Water Hemlock)

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Erodium cicutarium is a delicate-looking plant that is, in face, quite tough. It forms a basal rosette of long, soft, feathery divided leaves, sometimes so large that they could easily be mistaken for a cultivated Erodium. The flowers are in small clusters on long stalks, pale mauve with darker markings, like other Erodiums in having two petals shorter than the other three, producing a lop-sided flower. In amongst other plants, Erodium cicutarium can straggle over a foot across, in more open situations, it is more upright, and in dry sites, it can form a neat cushion.
Erodium cicutarium has been used in traditional medicine to to control internal bleeding, and as a poultice to treat burns.
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Harvesting and Growing from Seed:

Germination:
Autumn
Outside (7 days)
Winter
Deno (7 days)

Seed Pod The seedpod is very long and thin, like a stork's bill. There are five seeds in a ring at
the base of the 'beak', each with its own cover, attached to the 'beak' by a woody ribbon.
Seed The seeds are very small oval dark brown beads. There are five seeds from each flower.
Seedling The two seedleaves are rounded, each with a long stalk joining the main stem. The stem
is often reddish. The first true leaves are very divided.

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				Germination: Autumn Outside (7 days) Winter Deno (7 days)
Seed Pod The seedpod is very long and thin, like a stork's bill. There are five seeds in a ring at the base of the 'beak', each with its own cover, attached to the 'beak' by a woody ribbon. Seed The seeds are very small oval dark brown beads. There are five seeds from each flower. Seedling The two seedleaves are rounded, each with a long stalk joining the main stem. The stem is often reddish. The first true leaves are very divided.