Erodium alnifolium Guss.
Erodium alnifolium is an annual herb with well-developed stems.
Leaves: Leaves very broadly ovate, entire or trilobate, somewhat pleated in appearance.
Inflorescence: Umbels of 5-10 flowers, about 5 mm across, pink with no markings; sepal with mucro 1-2 mm, prolonged with long hairs; anthers purple; pollen orange; stigma purple.
Fruit: rostrum 15-20 mm; mericarp c 4 mm; foveole large, deep, quadrangular, without a furrow; awn with 4-6 turns on the spiral. 2n=20
Distribution: circum Mediterranean: Algeria, Italy, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Sardegna, Saudi Arabia, Sicilia, Tunisia, and introduced into France.
Notes: Similar to E.malacoides but is autogamous and intersterile with E.malacoides: E. malacoides has a furrow beneath the foveole. Erodium chium can be separated by its longer rostrum – 30-50(70) mm.
