Cranesbill Root 50 g, 25 g

Cranesbill Root – 50 g ($22.99), 25 g ($14.99)

Benefits:

Botanical Name: Geranium maculatum
Common Name(s): Cranesbill, Crane’s Bill Geranium, Spotted Geranium, Wild Geranium
English: Cranesbill
Also, known as: Old Maid’s Nightcap, Shameface, Chocolate Flower
Origin: Eastern Mediterranean
Harvested: Wild
Parts Used: Root

General Information:
Geranium is a genus of 422 species of annual, biennial, and perennial plants that are commonly known as geraniums or cranesbills. They are found throughout the temperate regions of the world and the mountains of the tropics, but mostly in the eastern part of the Mediterranean region.

The palmately cleft leaves are broadly circular in form. The flowers have five petals and are coloured white, pink, purple or blue, often with distinctive veining. Geraniums will grow in any soil as long as it is not waterlogged. Propagation is by semi-ripe cuttings in summer, by seed, or by division in autumn or spring. Wild geranium is a woodland perennial flower in the Geraniaceae family that will naturalize in optimum growing conditions. This plant is found naturally in base-rich, mesic forests. The preference is for light shade to partial sunlight, moist to slightly dry conditions, and rich loamy soil with abundant organic matter. This plant also tolerates full sunlight if given sufficient moisture. It is easy to grow in cultivation and is one of the showiest of the native Cranesbills. During the hottest part of summer, the foliage may decline and yellow. Shear back to reshape.

Spotted Geranium is an herbaceous perennial that may grow 1 to 2 feet tall. The leaves are opposite and lobed with a toothed margin. Pink or light purple flowers first mature in mid-spring and continue into late spring.

The attractive deeply lobed leaves are topped by saucer-shaped flowers that are pink to lilac in spring. Use in mass as a ground cover, in woodland settings or native and pollinator gardens. This plant is clump-forming. There are cultivars of this plant with white flowers and dark leaves. The flowers are typically five-petaled and white to purple. The leaves are palmate divided into narrow, pointed segments.

The fruit capsule consists of five cells joined to a column produced from the centre of the flower. The cells form lobes which eventually separate, each containing one seed. When the fruit is ripe, the beak-like stigma springs open and casts the seeds some distance, dispersing the seeds.

Many species are perennials and generally winter-hardy plants, grown for their attractive flowers and foliage. They are long-lived and most have a mounding habit, with palmately lobed foliage. Some species have spreading rhizomes. They are normally grown in part shade to full sun, in well-draining but moisture retentive soils, rich in humus.