Dove's-foot Crane's-bill - Geranium molle
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.
Geranium pusillum.
Small flowers, mericarps glabrous and usually ridged; pedicels with some long hairs as well as short
Dry grassland, verges, lawns, cultivated land especially amongst arable crops, waste ground.
April to September.
Annual.
Common in much of Britain though scarcer in the north.
Fairly common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 243 of the 617 tetrads.
David Nicholls
New Lount
14 June 2012
Graham Calow
Springwell Lane, Whetsone
05 May 2016
Stems with long white hairs
Graham Calow
Main Street, Cosby
16 May 2016
Stems with long white hairs. Gravel Pit Sapcote SP 4850 9393 (taken 3.5.2006),.JPG)
Graham Calow
Hinckley Road Gravel Pit, Sapcote
03 May 2006
stems with long white hairs
Barbara Cooper
Long Clawson
22 May 2012
. Gravel Pit Sapcote SP 4850 9393 (taken 3.5.2006),.JPG)
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Species profile
- Common names
- Dove's-foot Crane's-bill, Dovesfoot Crane's-bill
- Species group:
- flowering plant
- Kingdom:
- Plantae
- Order:
- Geraniales
- Family:
- Geraniaceae
- Records on NatureSpot:
- 248
- First record:
- 11/05/1992 (John Mousley;Steve Grover)
- Last record:
- 17/04/2026 (Markham, Marian)
Total records by month
% of records within its species group
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Latest images
Latest records
Graham Calow
Sapcote
08 May 2013 site of 'The Limes' Sapcote SP 4814 9345 (taken 25.7.2008),.JPG)
Graham Calow
Sapcote
25 July 2008
Alan Semper
Harby roadside verge
28 May 2012
David Nicholls
Martinshaw Wood
15 June 2007
David Nicholls
Martinshaw Wood
09 April 2011
David Nicholls
Abbey Park, Leicester
06 May 2011
Ruth Dring
Broughton Astley
27 August 2012
 site of 'The Limes' Sapcote SP 4814 9345 (taken 25.7.2008),.JPG)
Agromyza nigrescens
The larva of the Agromyzid fly Agromyza nigrescens mines the leaves of Geranium and Erodium species. The start of the mine is corridor-like and usually follows the leaf margin, before widening considerably into a secondary blotch, with irregular sides. Primary and secondary feeding lines are clearly visible and frass is mostly in large clumps.
Aceria geranii
The mite Aceria geranii causes galls on the leaves of Geranium species. The leaves are paler than usual, thickened and rolled into a mophead at the shoot tip. The mites live inside the leaves, and are minute, whitish and worm-like; they cannot be seen with the naked eye but are just discernible using a stereo microscope.
Uromyces geranii
Uromyces geranii is a rust fungus that galls the leaves of various Geranium and Erodium species (Crane's-bills and Stork's-bills); there is no host-plant alternation. Aecia are orange, on leaf undersides and petiole; later pale brown uredinia and darker telia appear on the leaf underside.