Common Name: GERANIUM FAMILY
Habit: Annual, perennial herb, or +- woody, generally glandular-hairy. Leaf: simple to compound, basal and cauline; cauline alternate or opposite, stipules 2, +- on stem. Inflorescence: cyme or pseudo-umbel or 1--2-flowered. Flower: bisexual [unisexual], radial or +- bilateral; sepals 5, free, overlapping in bud; petals generally 5, free, generally with nectar glands at base; stamens generally 5,10[15]; staminodes scale-like or 0; ovary generally 5-lobed, upper part elongating into beak in fruit, chambers 5, placentas axile, style 1, stigmas 5, free, persistent in fruit. Fruit: septicidal [loculicidal], mericarps 5, dry, generally 1-seeded, each persistent on 1 of 5 linear segments of beak that separate from central column by curving or coiling upward.
Genera In Family: 6 genera, 709 species: temperate, +- tropics. Some cultivated for ornament, perfume oils.
eFlora Treatment Author: Carlos Aedo, except as noted
Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.

Common Name: GARDEN GERANIUM
Habit: Annual, generally perennial herb, shrub, aromatic or strong-smelling. Stem: generally erect. Leaf: alternate to +- opposite above; blade lobed to dissected, lobes generally crenate or serrate. Inflorescence: umbel, dense to open; flowers 3--many. Flower: +- bilateral [(radial)], nectary 1, deeply embedded into receptacle to form spur fused with pedicel; petals +- equal to strongly unequal, generally striped or marked, upper 2 generally > lower 3, different in shape, position, generally with marks of different and/or more intense color; fertile stamens 1--7, united at base. Fruit: body dehiscent, generally oblong, base acute, 1-seeded; beak segments stiff-hairy adaxially.
Etymology: (Greek: stork, from beaked fruit) Note: Pelargonium ×domesticum, cultivated but evidently not escaped in California; Pelargonium quercifolium (L.) L'Hér., urban weed.
eFlora Treatment Author: Piet Vorster
Reference: Bakker et al. 2005 in Bakker et al. (eds.) Pl Species-Level Syst:75--100. A.R.G. Gantner
Unabridged Reference: Bakker, F. T., Culham, A., Hettiarachi, P., Touloumenidou, T., & Gibby, M. 2004. Phylogeny of Pelargonium (Geraniaceae) based on DNA sequences from three genomes. Taxon 53: 17--28; Bakker, F. T., Culham, A., Marais, E. M., & Gibby, M. 2005. Nested radiation in Cape Pelargonium. Pp. 75--100, in Bakker, F. T., Chatrou, L. W., Gravendeel, B., & Pelser, P. B. (eds), Plant Species-Level Systematics: New Perspectives on Pattern and Process. A.R.G. Gantner, Ruggel, Liechtenstein. [Regnum Vegetabile vol. 143.]; Van der Walt 1985 Bothalia 15:345--385, 1977 Pelargoniums of Southern Africa vol. 1; Van der Walt & Vorster 1981 Pelargoniums of Southern Africa vol. 2; Van der Walt & Vorster 1988 Pelargoniums of Southern Africa vol. 3