Erodium cicutarium, Common Storksbill

Scientific Name: Erodium cicutarium

Erodium cicutarium, more commonly known as Common Storksbill, is a very variable species, branched and covered in long white hairs when growing in reasonable conditions. It favours dry, grassy places and wasteland, especially on chalk; also found on coastal dunes (as in the photograph above).

The leaves are divided into paired leaflets, which are themselves deeply lobed. The flowers, up to 18mm across, grow in loose, long-stalked clusters; the petals are rose-pink or purplish. They are followed by a fruit with an elongated 'beak' - the 'stork's bill' - which splits into five segments when ripe.

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