Geranium growing wild

[ian mcdonald]

Do any members recognize this Geranium. It is a single plant growing among many Geranium sylvaticum. The flowers are white and streaked with blue. The size of the flowers are between 10mm and 15mm. The height of the flowering stem is 80cm. I have looked at various sites on the internet but nothing fits. The nearest plant I found was on the AGS under Geranium sylvaticum. Mentioned are four subspecies, caeruleatum, pseudosibiricum, rivulare and sylvaticum. As expected, the caeruleatum comes closest. The leaves of caeruleatum are more divided. I have been told that my plant is just an abnormal G. sylvaticum but I,m not convinced. The flowers are smaller compared to sylvaticum and are not the same colour.

[partisangardener]

I am not an expert on G.sylvativum,, but I saw them here regularly in the wild.
Some places have quite some variations. I have not noticed much in the leafs, they do not stick out that much. Flower size varies quite a bit and variegated flowers occur.  Some of the variegated might be caused by virus infections, especially if the leafs are variegated too.

The last two decades, the natural populations in the wild have dwindled  in my area. Now we see much more planted populations and these selections certainly influence the species.

[ian mcdonald]

Thanks Axel. The odd thing about this Geranium is that it is the only one. There are no other Geraniums in the area with intermediate colours. The flower size is smaller than sylvatica. If it was a case of white flowers and the same size as sylvatica I would have thought it was a Sport. I,ve had little response from the experts yet.

[MarcR]

Ian,

I think you may have G. pratense.

[ian mcdonald]

Thanks Marc. I,m familiar with pratense. pratense is a plant of mainly limestone areas. The flowers are larger and usually a good all blue colour, also the leaf lobes of pratense are not as wide as the leaf lobes of sylvaticum.

[MarcR]

Ian,

The shape and arangement of the petals is more like pratense than sylvaticum; but still not a match.  Could it be a natural hybrid of Pratense and maculatum?

[ian mcdonald]

Hello Marc, G. maculatum was among the many species and hybrids I considered. Maculatum is not a native species in the UK. I have never seen it. The plant I found does not have spotted leaves. The flower size is smaller than sylvaticum and smaller still than pratense. I measured the flowers and they range from 10-15mm across. I also measured a number of the sylvaticum flowers in the same area. They range in size between 12-30mm across. I think the sylvaticum flowers are smaller when they first open then extend as they age. The flowers of pratense are larger than sylvaticum.

[MarcR]

Ian,

Your wild plant may come from garden seed moved by some bird, or  mamal.

[ian mcdonald]

Thanks Mark, I considered this but can find no match for the flowers and leaves. This is the reason I have contacted a number of Botanical individuals as well as the gardening fraternity. So far I have not had a satisfactory explanation and wonder if this plant is a one off.

[ashley]

Ian, have you tried the BSBI expert/referee for Geranium?

[ian mcdonald]

Hello Ashley, yes my enquiry was passed to Helena. I still do not have an answer from anyone who is familiar with this particular anomaly and can give a definitive answer as to why the flowers are not just a different colour but also a different size. I would have thought that there are many botanists who are familiar with G. sylvaticum and have seen this "difference" before. To me it,s not just a case of a difference in colour but combined with a different size.

[Yann]

sylvaticum