Erodium atlanticum

Perennial plant with a tough woody taproot, whole plant densely pilose with long acicular hairs 1-2mm; crown is a mass of short stems covered in old rich brown and hairy stipules 5-7mm, with a broad short mucro 1mm.

Inflorescence: Umbels of 4-7 flowers are axillary, rising directly from base of the plant; sepals with mucro 0.5-1mm; petals pink, 5-nerved, ovate, subequal and turned back, upper 2 with blotch made up of oval and triangular marks.

Synonyms

Erodium cossonii Guitt & Matiez

Plants with a furrow beneath the foveole were separated as E. cossonii, but E. cossonii is now considered a synonym.

Erodium guinochetianum Guitt.

Erodium atlanticum, in cultivation, Tenterden, Kent, UK, 12/09/2012

Leaves: lower leaves are entire to 50mm on 100mm petioles, long oval, serrate, upper leaves entire to trilobed, crenate; stipules free.

Erodium atlanticum; Photo credit : Bernadette Baud; licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).

Fruit: Mericarp 5-6mm; foveoles with capitate glands; with or without furrow. Beak 2-3.5cm.

2n=20 Guitt.

Distribution: endemic in Morocco in shady clefts of little chalk cliffs: rocks of mountains, calcareous and silicaceous.

Erodium atlanticum; Photo credit : Jean-Claude Thiaudière; licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).