Erodium acaule

Erodium acaule is a species of plant in the family Geraniaceae.

Erodium acaule
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Geraniales
Family:	Geraniaceae
Genus:	Erodium
Species:	E. acaule
Binomial name
Erodium acaule (L.) Bech. & Thell.

Description

Perennial, acaulescent, 15–25 cm high. Hairs spare, appressed. Root vertical, lignified. Leaves rosulate, lanceolate-oblong, spreading on soil, pinnatisect. Segments sessile, oblong-ovate, Pinnatilobed, in short and acute strips. Flowers 1.5 cm in diameter, bright pink. Petals equal, 2-3 times longer than calyx, rounded at apex. Beak of fruits 4–5 cm long.

Flowering

Nearly all the year round.

Habitat

Fields. waste ground.

Distribution

Coast, lower and middle mountains, Beqaa valley in Lebanon.

Geographic area

Syria, Lebanon, the Palestine region, the Eastern Mediterranean, and southern Europe.

The generic name is derived from the Greek erôdios, heron, since the fruit of this plant, which ends in a long bill, suggests the bill of a heron. The specific name, indicating that the plant is stemless, is formed of the privative prefix a and of the Greek kaulos, stem

References

• Georges Tohme& Henriette Tohme, IIIustrated Flora of Lebanon, National Council For Scientific Research, Second Edition 2014.