Geranium maculatum
{{Short description|Species of flowering plant in the family Geraniaceae}}
{{Redirect|Old Maid's Nightcap|other uses|Old Maid (disambiguation)}}
{{Redirect-distinguish-text|Wood geranium|wood cranesbill or woodland geranium, G. sylvaticum}}
{{Speciesbox
|image = Geranium maculatum Leatherwood Lake.jpg
|status=G5
|status_system=TNC
|genus = Geranium
|species = maculatum
|authority = L.
}}
Geranium maculatum, the wild geranium, spotted geranium, or wood geranium, is a perennial plant native to woodland in eastern North America, from southern Manitoba and southwestern Quebec south to Alabama and Georgia and west to Oklahoma and South Dakota.{{GRIN | accessdate = 29 December 2017}}BorealForest: [http://www.borealforest.org/world/herbs_shrubs/wild_geranium.htm Geranium maculatum]
Names
It is known as spotted cranesbill or wild cranesbill in Europe, but the wood cranesbill is another plant, the related G. sylvaticum (a European native called "woodland geranium" in North America). Colloquial names are alum root, alum bloom and old maid's nightcap.
Distribution
It grows in dry to moist woods and is normally abundant when found.
Description
It is a perennial herbaceous plant growing to {{convert|60|cm|ft|0|abbr=on}} tall, producing upright, usually unbranched stems and flowers in spring to early summer. The leaves are palmately lobed with five or seven deeply cut lobes, {{convert|10|–|12.5|cm|0|abbr=on}} broad, with a petiole up to {{convert|30|cm|abbr=on}} long arising from the rootstock. They are deeply parted into three or five divisions, each of which is again cleft and toothed.
The flowers are {{convert|2.5|–|4|cm|1|abbr=on}} in diameter, with five rose-purple, pale or violet-purple (rarely white) petals and ten stamens. In the Northern Hemisphere, they appear from April to June (precise dates depend on the latitude).Missouriplants: [http://www.missouriplants.com/Blueopp/Geranium_maculatum_page.html Geranium maculatum] They are grouped in loose corymbs or umbels of two to five at the top of the flower stems.{{cite web |title=Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum) |url=http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/woodland/plants/wild_geranium.htm |website=Illinois Wildflowers |date=2016 |last1=Hilty |first1=John}}
The fruit capsule, which springs open when ripe, consists of five cells each containing one seed joined to a long beak-like column {{convert|2|–|3|cm|1|abbr=on}} long (resembling a crane's bill) produced from the center of the old flower.
The rhizome is long, and {{convert|5|to|10|cm|0|abbr=on}} thick, with numerous branches. It is covered with scars, showing the remains of stems of previous years' growth. When dry it has a somewhat purplish color internally.Gleason, H. A. (1952). The New Britton and Brown Illustrated Flora of the Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada, Vol. 2, page 457. Hafner Press, New York. 63-16478.
Cultivation
File:Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum).jpg ]]
The plant is well-known in cultivation, and numerous cultivars have been developed. The cultivar 'Elizabeth Ann' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.{{cite web
| url= https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/186784/i-Geranium-maculatum-i-Elizabeth-Ann-sup-(PBR)-sup/Details
| title = RHS Plantfinder - Geranium maculatum 'Elizabeth Ann' | accessdate=16 February 2018}}{{cite web
| url= https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/pdfs/agm-lists/agm-ornamentals.pdf | title = AGM Plants - Ornamental | date = July 2017
| page = 42 | publisher = Royal Horticultural Society | accessdate = 1 March 2018}}
Other uses
The plant has been used in herbal medicine, and is also grown as a garden plant. Wild geranium is considered an astringent, a substance that causes contraction of the tissues and stops bleeding.{{cite web|website=Plants for a Future|url=http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Geranium+maculatum|title=Geranium maculatum|access-date=20 April 2025}} The Meskwaki brewed a root tea for toothache and for painful nerves and mashed the roots for treating hemorrhoids.{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}
References
{{Commons category}}
{{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q5549871}}
Category:Flora of Northern America
Category:Plants used in traditional Native American medicine