Dove's-foot Crane's-bill - Geranium molle

Alternative names
Dove's Foot Crane's-bill
Description

Low to short, densely and softly- hairy semi-prostrate plant. Leaves rounded and divided beyond halfway into 5 to 7 wedge-shaped lobes. Stems with long white hairs. Flowers pinkish purple 6 to 10 mm in lax clusters, the petals deeply notched and scarcely longer than the sepals.

Similar Species

Geranium pusillum.  

Identification difficulty
ID guidance

Small flowers, mericarps glabrous and usually ridged; pedicels with some long hairs as well as short 

Habitat

Dry grassland, verges, lawns, cultivated land especially amongst arable crops, waste ground.

When to see it

April to September.

Life History

Annual.

UK Status

Common in much of Britain though scarcer in the north.

VC55 Status

Fairly common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 243 of the 617 tetrads.

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Dove's-foot Crane's-bill, Dovesfoot Crane's-bill
Species group:
Wildflowers
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Geraniales
Family:
Geraniaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
226
First record:
11/05/1992 (John Mousley;Steve Grover)
Last record:
08/09/2023 (Alton, John)

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% of records within its species group

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