#Geranium pratense

[crudlynaturephotos]

[leatherpearlslace]

[unkn0wnvariable]

Meadow Crane's-bill

A pastel blue flower of meadow crane's-bill, in the garden.

[thebelmontrooster]

New Plants Update

Aegopodium podagraria (Snow In The Mountain/Goutweed) on 7-5-24, #1000-1. Hello everyone! I hope this post finds you well. I thought I would write a post about the new plants I brought home in 2024. Some of the new plants complained because I didn’t write a new post when I brought them home, so this is an apology to them. A few are grouping together and are still snubbing me. GEEZ! In…

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Wednesday 2 August 2023

In Stromness, Orkney, there was this great plant of Geranium pratense 'Plenum Violaceum' (cranesbill) in full flower above a mound of foliage. This hardy perennial is reliable, easy to grow and makes an excellent ground cover at the front of a border.

Jill Raggett

[lady-book-trash]

[Red Clover (trifolium pratense) + Carolina Geranium / Cranesbill (geranium carolinianum)]

Both are incredibly useful medicinals and are edible, though the wild geranium contains tannins which inhibit a bitter taste. Whereas the clover is wondrously sweet.

[jaybug-jabbers]

Flowering 'Weeds' in my Neighborhood Pt 2

More plants around here I've been working on IDing.

1.) Ribwort Plantain (Plantago lanceolata) - Invasive

This plant's flowers are very curious, since they have no pedals. They're invasive but have a history of use in herbal medicine, and the young leaves and seeds are reportedly edible. They have no relation to the relatives of the banana which are also called plantains.

2.) Hairy Pink (Petrorhagia dubia) - Invasive

These adorable little pink flowers have an interesting sort of bulb-like shape just under the flowers. The species has spread quite globally. I wish I could tell you why it's named 'hairy,' but common names of flowers are often quite colorful and the reasons behind such colorful names are sometimes lost to time.

3 - 4.) Garden Star-of-Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum) - Invasive

This lovely little wildflower is in the asparagus family, and apparently its flowers bloom late in the day (around noon). When the flowers are closed there are distinctive stripes on the outside that help ID the species. There is apparently folklore about these plants growing from fragments of the star of Bethlehem, thus the name. The plant is toxic, so you should not be chewing on this one.

5.) Forget-Me-Not (Genus Eritrichium) - Native

The image search suggests these little white flowers I found are probably forget-me-nots, although I'm not positive. These flowers have a history of ornamental use for weddings, and the most popular ones are blue, but other colors do exist. If you ask about the origin of their common name, you'll see tons of different stories. Its seems the real origin of the name may indeed be forgotten. According to the internet, they are edible in small quantities, although some species in the family are mildly toxic, so do your research before eating.

6.) Rose Clover (Trifolium hirtum) - Invasive

This plant was introduced here as forage for livestock, and you'll find it pretty much everywhere now. It's a very hardy and prolific clover.

I cannot find information on Rose Clover in particular when it comes to foraging and edibility for humans. It seems the clovers that humans tend to forage the most are the Red and White clovers (T. pratense and T. repens) for their flowers and young leaves, although it's advised to only consume them in small quantities. The flowers are said to be the tastiest, while the rest is not particularly enjoyable.

Keep in mind that Trifolium ('tri' meaning 3 of course) is the true clover family. There is a clover look-alike called wood sorrel, which I mentioned in my last post. The difference is wood sorrel leaves are heart-shaped, whereas clover leaves are rounded.

7.) Mallow (Malva neglecta or Malva parviflora) - Invasive

This weed is noteworthy in that its leaves look like geranium, but the plant is unrelated. It also has cute, tiny little stripey purple/pink flowers. This humble weed has a very long history of use in herbal medicine, for a variety of purposes. The entire plant is also edible. The fun fact I enjoy the most is that marshmallows really do come from this plant, originally; they were made from the roots of mallows that grew in marshes.

8.) Wild Morning Glory/Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) - Invasive

The photo here makes it a bit hard to make out, but this little plant is a vine with pretty trumpet-shaped white flowers. It's a very hardy plant that spreads easily, and so it can threaten other plants by choking them, as aggressive vines are wont to do. I have very old memories of these weeds growing in the gravel of my backyard, and when I discovered them, pointed them out to my mother. When she told me they were weeds, I had difficulty believing her, because I thought they looked too pretty to be weeds.

The literature on bindweed varies, and I've seen some sites state that it contains toxins, while others claim they are edible. I suggest not trying to eat it, because it's better to error on the side of caution.

[47015741]

Geranium pratense

[shycuddledragon]

Geranium pratense as far as I can see... That stuff grows everywhere at home :/ at least my teachers are happy, they normally give it to the new students to practice identifying plants

starfish

[paeonia-horse]

Meadow Cranesbill (Geranium pratense)

[crudlynaturephotos]

[leatherpearlslace]

[ebaeschnbliah]

Geranium Pratense ‘Plenum Violaceum’

[unkn0wnvariable]

Meadow Crane's-bill by Oliver Andrews Via Flickr: A pastel blue flower of meadow crane's-bill.

[irmgaertchen]

Wiesen - Storchschnabel

(Geranium pratense) Bianca, die Gärtnerin hat ihn vor das neue Obstspalier unter der Hütte gepflanzt. Kalk- und Nährstoffreich sind die Terrassen, es müsste also hinhauen.

Noch 14 Pflanzen.

[unamass]

Graines de Géranium des prés / Geranium pratense

photo: Pascal Maire