GERANIUM FAMILY
Reading edition
Storksbill, Alfilaria Erodium cicutarium
Plate 7, fig. 5
The fruit of the Storksbill bears a fancied resemblance to the long beak of a crane or stork, and both the common and scientific names 13 refer to this resemblance. The flowers are rose-purple and look like those of a small geranium. The twisted fruits have been carried everywhere by sheep, and the plants are especially common in roadsides and pastures at 4000-7000 ft. The Storksbill has been somewhat used in medicine as a mild astringent and tonic, and under the name of “Filaree” it is greatly prized by stockmen as forage, especially for sheep.
Geranium, Cranesbill Geranium caespitosum
Plate 7, fig. 6
The Geranium, like the Alfilaria, has a fruit resembling the long beak of the crane or stork. The flowers are bright pink, red or purple, while the plants closely resemble those of the White Geranium. The latter, however, grows usually along brook-banks and in wet meadows, while the Red Geranium occurs on dry foothills, gravel-slides and in pine woods at 5000-10000 ft. Both Geraniums bloom from late spring to midsummer.