Geranium caespitosum

{{Speciesbox

| image = Geranium_caespitosum_flora.jpg

| image_caption =

| status = {{TNCStatus}}

| status_system = TNC

| status_ref = {{cite web |last1=NatureServe |title=Geranium caespitosum |url=https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.151435/Geranium_caespitosum |access-date=26 September 2024 |location=Arlington, Virginia |date=2024}}

| genus = Geranium

| species = caespitosum

| authority = E.James, 1823

| synonyms_ref = {{cite POWO |id=322499-2 |title=Geranium caespitosum E.James |access-date=26 September 2024}}

| synonyms = {{Collapsible list | {{Species list

| Geranium atropurpureum | A.Heller (1898)

| Geranium cowenii | Rydb. (1907)

| Geranium eremophilum | Wooton & Standl. (1913)

| Geranium fremontii | Torr. ex A.Gray (1849)

| Geranium furcatum | Hanks (1907)

| Geranium gracile | Engelm. (1849)

| Geranium intermedium | E.James (1823)

| Geranium marginale | Rydb. (1907)

| Geranium parryi | A.Heller (1900)

| Geranium pattersonii | Rydb. (1902)

| Geranium pentagynum | Engelm. (1848)

| Geranium toquimense | N.H.Holmgren & A.H.Holmgren (1974)

}}

Geranium caespitosum, the purple cluster geranium or pineywoods geranium, is a perennial herb native to the western United States and northern Mexico. Its US distribution includes Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.[https://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=GECA3 Geranium caespitosum.] PLANTS Profile. USDA. Accessed 23 June 2013.

It has a purple to red flower with 5 stamens, and the sepals are acuminate, tapering with a long point. It has palmately lobed leaves. The fruit is a schizocarp made up of 5 mericarps. Flowers bloom May to September.{{Cite web |title=Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - The University of Texas at Austin |url=https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=GECA3 |access-date=2022-03-02 |website=www.wildflower.org}} Geranium caespitosum has fleshy roots that penetrate deeply into the soil. It grows in damp soils, as in the understory of coniferous forests and in canyons.

Uses

The Gosiute use the plant as an astringent and a decoction of the root to treat diarrhea. The Keres use roots crushed into a paste to treat sores, and the whole plant as turkey food.[http://herb.umd.umich.edu/herb/search.pl?searchstring=Geranium+caespitosum Geranium caespitosum.] Native American Ethnobotany. University of Michigan - Dearborn. Accessed 23 June 2013.

=Cultivation=

The pineywoods geranium is grown in xeriscape and native plant gardens for their well displayed pink flowers.{{cite book |last1=Barr |first1=Claude A. |title=Jewels of the plains : wild flowers of the Great Plains grasslands and hills |date=1983 |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |location=Minneapolis |isbn=0-8166-1127-0 |page=18}}

Varieties

The four varieties may known by the following common names:

G. c. var. caespitosum – pineywoods geranium
G. c. var. eremophilum – purple cluster geranium
G. c. var. fremontii – Fremont's geranium
G. c. var. parryi – Parry's geranium

In the United States, all four varieties are found in Arizona and New Mexico, and the purple cluster geranium is only found there. The other varieties are all found in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, and the pineywoods variety extends into Nevada and Texas.