WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

Look for this white-flowered geranium growing in cinders at El Malpais National Monument in the El Calderon area, especially near the trailhead parking lot. Yellowish glandular-sticky hairs cover the bushy stems, which grow to 2-feet tall, and the palmately-lobed leaves. Note the pointed fruit is shaped like an upraised crane’s bill.

FLOWER: June–September. Flowers have 5 white petals usually bent backwards, 1/4–3/8-inch long (5–10 mm), the basal half with pink lines and hairs; 5 sepals with pronounced points show between the petals; erect yellowish-green stigma column with 10 yellowish-green, arching stamens; fruit is a slender capsule, 3/4-1 1/8-inches (20–30 mm) long, pointed.

LEAVES: Opposite. Blades glandular hairy, 1–2-inches wide (2.5–5 cm), palmately lobed (like fingers on a hand) into 3–5 rounded, shallowly-cleft lobes.

HABITAT: Volcanic cinders, sandy, gravelly soils; lava flows, cinder cones, sandstone canyons, sagebrush, scrub oak, coniferous forests.

ELEVATION: 6,700–7,550 feet.

RANGE: AZ, NM.

SIMILAR SPECIES: The restricted range in NM, reflexed (bent backwards) white petals, and yellowish (not reddish) glandular hairs help distinguish Mogollon Geranium from Wild Geranium, G. richardsonii.

NM COUNTIES: West-central NM in mid-elevation, dry habitats: Catron, Cibola.