Geranium potentilloides

Soft Crane's-bill at Farringdon, NSW

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Identification history

Geranium potentilloides	28 Nov 2018	BettyDonWood
Geranium potentilloides	28 Nov 2018	BettyDonWood
Geranium neglectum	26 Nov 2018	MichaelMulvaney
Geranium antrorsum	26 Nov 2018	BettyDonWood
Unidentified	26 Nov 2018	Christine

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User's notes

Less than 10cm in height, but spread a little wider than that.

9 comments

BettyDonWood wrote:

27 Nov 2018

https://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v3/plants_se_nsw/key/plants_se_nsw/Media/Html/entities/geranium_antrorsum.htm
Hover the mouse over a word you don’t know or tap the word on a tablet, and the meaning will apoear if the link to the glossary is working.

Christine wrote:

27 Nov 2018

Thanks so much Betty.

MichaelMulvaney wrote:

27 Nov 2018

I think the flowering stalk is too long to be antrorsum

BettyDonWood wrote:

27 Nov 2018

My first thought was Geranium neglectum, but decided not because the points on the sepals are not as noticeable as on this. I have asked Jackie to have a look at it.
https://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v3/plants_se_nsw/key/plants_se_nsw/Media/Html/entities/geranium_neglectum.htm

JackieMiles wrote:

27 Nov 2018

Sorry guys, no idea. Could be neglectum based on the fairly large looking flower and pale colour. Was it in or near a bog? If so that would be conclusive. Too sprawly and the flower too pale for antrorsum, but it could perhaps be potentilloides, just off the top of my head.

BettyDonWood wrote:

27 Nov 2018

Neglectum is 25-35 mm diameter, mucro (the little abrupt point) on the tips of the sepals 0.5-1 mm long. Antrorsum petals are 5-12 mm long, mucro on the tips of the sepals to 2 mm long. Potentilloides petals are 4-8.5 mm long, no mucro on the sepals mentioned.
This seems to point towards Geranium neglectum.
Christine, can you remember what the flower diameter was?

Christine wrote:

27 Nov 2018

I would be guessing, so would rather not say, but I have added another photo which may give more context. this is a different flower from the same plant.

JackieMiles wrote:

28 Nov 2018

The 3rd photo makes the flower look smaller, so I'm leaning to potentilloides. Vic Flora mentions a mucro of 0.3 to 1mm long for it. The highish elevation also suggests that and the leaf litter under the plant suggests forest rather than bog, all adding up to potentilloides. For future reference Christine, with Geraniums, a side on shot of the flower stem is good, so we can see what the hairs are doing - short/long, spreading/appressed/backward pointing? Otherwise there's a lot of guesswork involved. And a ruler, or even a finger for scale is useful too.

Christine wrote:

28 Nov 2018

Thanks Jackie. I am trying to be better at getting the necessary information, but am such an amateur, I don't know which plants are common and easy, and which require more info. Will try to do better :)
It is forest there, and though there is water nearby, and often has plenty of leeches about, at the moment it is pretty dry.

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