Erodium cicutarium – Redstem Stork's Bill

Erodium cicutarium - Redstem Stork's Bill, Filaree, Heron-bill, Redstem Filaree

Erodium cicutarium - Redstem Stork's Bill, Filaree, Heron-bill, Redstem Filaree

Plant Name

Scientific Name: Erodium cicutarium

Common Names: Redstem Stork's Bill, Filaree, Heron-bill, Redstem Filaree

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Annual, Biennial

Growth Habit: Herb/Forb

Arizona Native Status: Introduced. This naturalized weed is native to southern Europe.

Habitat: Desert, Upland. It grows in flat, open, disturbed areas.

Flower Color: Pinkish violet

Flowering Season: Winter (late), Spring

Height: Prostrate, sprawling to 15 inches (38 cm) wide

Description: The flowers are 1/4 inch (0.6 cm) wide and have 5 petals and 5 sepals. The developing green seeds look like a stork bill. The mature seeds are point-tipped and have a coiling and uncoiling tail that self-buries them when they get wet. The leaves are in a flat basal rosette and are dark green and pinnate with pinnately cleft leaflets. The stems are reddish and hairy.

The seeds can be a hazard to dogs and other animals. Because the seeds have a sharp pointed tip, coil themselves up, and can move and try to bury themselves when they get wet, they can become tangled in a dog's fur and then penetrate its skin in an attempt to bury themselves.

Special Characteristics

Poisonous – This otherwise edible plant can accumulate toxic levels of nitrate from the soil.

Classification

Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Rosidae
Order: Geraniales
Family: Geraniaceae – Geranium family
Genus: Erodium L'Hér. ex Aiton – stork's bill
Species: Erodium cicutarium (L.) L'Hér. ex Aiton – redstem stork's bill

More About This Plant

Arizona County Distribution Map