Erodium praecox (Cav.)Willd.
Erodium praecox is annual; stems very short or none, 0-10cm.
Leaves: leaves pinnate, all radical, 5.4cm long; leaflets entire to pinnatipartite; stipules red, adnate.
Inflorescence: Flowers deep pink, large, about2.5cm across; petals 2x sepal length, obovate; upper 2 petals shorter and slightly broader than lower, with small dark marks at base; staminodes glabrous, but the fertile stamens filaments are hairy; anthers purple; pollen orange; stigma purple; at beginning of flowering only 2 flowers per umbel but later umbels have more.
Fruit: Beaks 20-30mm; mericarps 4-5mm; foveole eglandular, with a narrow furrow beneath, furrow less than half the width of the foveole. 2n=60
Distribution: described from Spain: lake Ontigola; in sandy montane places of Aranjuez and Lake Antigola; Flowers Feb. to May.
Notes: similar to, and often grouped in with E. stellatum and E. maculatum but the three have fertility barriers.
