Erodium guttatum (Desf.)Willd.
Perennial herb, 10-35cm; roots several, light brown, stout taproot 3-4mm diameter; stems ascending, tomentose.
Leaves subround to triangular-ovate, entire to pinnatipartite, ± cordate, glaucous, crenate or dentate, purple below; stipules 1.8-5mm triangular-lanceolate, green
Inflorescence: Annual flowering stems rather horizontal or ascending, to c30cm, with reduced and more lobed leaves; axillary umbels of 2-5 flowers; bracts 3-6, 2-4mm, free or joined at the base, whitish; sepals 7.5-9.5mm, with mucro 0.9-1.8mm; petals 9-12.5mm, equal, pink to light purple, usually all with a black base and claw making a strong black centre to the flower; nectaries dark purple to brown; staminodes purple, ciliate; stamen filaments purple, gradually widened at base, sometimes with two teeth at the base; anthers purple; pollen orange-reddish; stigmas dark purple to black. Flowers March to July.
Fruit: beak 7-9.5cm, stout, tapering, with bristly hairs on each awn; mericarp 7.5-11mm, has a large foveole with a furrow beneath. 2n=18
Distribution: grassland and rock fissures on dolomite, 600-1000m; Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Israel, Jordan.
Notes: plants offered for sale in nurseries under this name are often not this species, but cultivars from Section Foetida.
