Erodium

and California

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Photos all ©Benjamin Coultrup unless otherwise indicated, 1984-2021.

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Erodium

Classification

Species

Clade I, Subclade 1

Subgenus Erodium

 - Section Erodium

 - Section Oxyrynchia

 - stephanianum group

Clade I, Subclade 2

Subgenus Barbata

 - Section  Absinthoidea

Clade II, Subclade 3

 - cygnorum group

Clade II, Subclade 4

 - botrys group

 - Section Cicutaria,

   - Subsection Cicutaria

   - Subsection Acaulia

 - Section Malacoidea

   - Subsection Reichardia

   - Subsection Malacoidea

 - Section Foetida

California

Literature and References

Notes

Erodium cheilanthifolium Boiss.


Clade II; Subclade 4; Section Foetida; glandulosum series.


Perennial with a long tap root, subcaulescent; 3-25cm; plant forms large cushions.


Leaves: lamina 1.3-6 cm x 0.6-1.8cm, ovate  to triangular ovate, bi- or tri-pinnatisect, with intercalary leaflets, upper and lower surfaces  grey-green, soft-pubescent, with short erect acicular eglandular-hairs, sometimes with some glandular hairs, especially towards the tip of the lobes; principal segments 5-11; tertiary lobes 0.6-1.6 mm wide, usually as long as wide; leaflets bristly-erect, sometimes ± in one plane, lobules obovate to spathulate, rarely lanceolate, ± obtuse, ± fleshy, occasionally reddish; stipules 3.5-7.5 mm, triangular, brownish.



Inflorescence: umbels of 2-5 flowers directly from the base; flowers noticeably irregular; bracts 4-6, 2.8-6.9 mm, greenish white, narrowly membranaceous; sepals 4.5-7 mm; mucro 0.6-0.9 mm; petals 7-12.2 mm, unequal, of one colour, white, sometimes with a slight pink or lilac hue, with almost black veins, the superior 2 petals strongly blotched with dark purple, covering ½ or more of the petal, overlapping, lower 3 narrower, not overlapping and unmarked; nectaries olive-green, spherical and unequal, taller than wide; staminodes glabrous, pink, stamen filaments glabrous, pink; anthers pink or purple, pollen rose-coral; stigmas whitish-pink to purple. Flowers from (February-) April - September (-December).


Fruit: fruit 30-45 mm; mericarps 5-6.6 mm, foveole large suborbicular, with stalked glands, outer edge densely ciliate; no furrows. Cotyledons 3-lobed. 2n=20


Distribution: endemic to Spain, in schist or chalky rocks, at 1400-3200m; Sierra Tejeda and Sierra Nevada at Penon de San Francisco, Sierra Subbeticas, Sierra Horconera, Sierra de Cazorla, Sierra de la Neives, Sierra de Rhonda.


Erodium cheilanthifolium; on the Loma de las Albardas, Sierra Nevada; Photo credit www.fotoseimagenes.net; from the IGG Facebook Group, Licenced under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC 3.0)