Geranium viscosissimum

Sticky geranium

Family: Geraniaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Sticky geranium is a California native perennial found in eastern Klamath Range (Quartz Valley), Cascade Range, and northern Modoc Plateau in meadows, sagebrush scrub, and conifer forest at elevations of 1,000 to 2,500 meters. Flowering from April to September, this plant produces striking pink to red-purple flowers with red-purple veined petals that are 17 to 20 millimeters long and feature soft-hairy bases. Growing with erect stems 30 to 90 centimeters tall with sparse hairs, it forms robust clumps in open habitats. Its large leaf blades measure 7 to 16 centimeters wide, deeply divided into 5 to 9 rhombic segments that create an intricate, lacy appearance. The plant produces smooth mericarp fruits with a narrow 25 to 29 millimeter beak, giving it a distinctive seed-dispersal mechanism.

Habitat: Meadows, openings in sagebrush scrub, conifer forest

Bloom period: Apr-Sep

Elevation: 1000-2500 m

Bioregions: e KR (Quartz Valley), CaRH, MP

California counties: Madera, Modoc, Lassen, Siskiyou, Fresno

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.