Erodium crassifolium

Perennial with a woody tap root with small round tubers: branching, sparsely leafy, annual flowering stems to 50cm, the remains forming a loose mat; leaves, sepals and stems hairless (var crassifolium) or hairy ( var hirtum).

Leaves entire but deeply and widely lobed and sharp toothed so that they might appear to be a mere continuous film of lamina around the main veins.

Inflorescence: Umbels of 4-8 scentless flowers 1.6-2.5cm across, pink or violet, or petals carmine pink to almost red; flowers with and without markings can appear on the same plant, petals rounded; sepals have no mucro.

Distribution: endemic to N Africa & Arabia; Algeria, Arabia, Crete, Cyprus, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia

Fruit: beak 5-10cm.

2n=20