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  4. Geranium solanderi

Geranium solanderi

In cultivation.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 11/10/2009, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
In cultivation.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 11/10/2009, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Geranium solanderi.<br>Photographer: Peter J. de Lange, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Geranium solanderi.<br>Photographer: Peter J. de Lange, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Geranium solanderi.<br>Photographer: Peter J. de Lange, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Geranium solanderi.<br>Photographer: Bec Stanley, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0'>CC BY-SA</a>.
Geranium solanderi.<br>Photographer: Bec Stanley, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0'>CC BY-SA</a>.
Geranium solanderi.<br>Photographer: John Smith-Dodsworth, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
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Common name

Solander’s geranium

Synonyms

Geranium dissectum var. pilosum Hook.f.; Geranium dissectum var. australe Benth.; Geranium carolinianum var. australe (Benth.) Fosberg; Geranium dissectum f. tasmanica Gand.; Geranium drummondii Carolin

Family

Geraniaceae

Authority

Geranium solanderi Carolin

Flora category

Vascular – Native

Endemic taxon

No

Endemic genus

No

Endemic family

No

Structural class

Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites

NVS code

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

GERSOL

Chromosome number

2n = 52

Current conservation status

  • Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017

The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2017 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2012 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: By Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, John W. Barkla, Shannel P. Courtney, Paul D. Champion, Leon R. Perrie, Sarah M. Beadel, Kerry A. Ford, Ilse Breitwieser, Ines Schönberger, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Peter B. Heenan and Kate Ladley.

2012 | At Risk – Declining | Qualifiers: DP, SO

Previous conservation statuses

2009 | Not Threatened

2004 | Not Threatened

Distribution

Indigneous. North, South and Chatham Islands (including many northern offshore islands). Indigenous to Australia.

Habitat

Coastal to montane (0-600 m a.s.l.). Formerly widespread in short tussock grasslands, on lava fields, clay pans and on rocky coastal headlands.

Features

Perennial herb 0.12-1.0 m tall. Rootstock 2.4-19.1 mm diam., without fusiform roots. Stem erect to ascending, with straight, patent to retrorse, non-appressed, eglandular hairs 0.4-1.8 mm long. Basal leaves in a ± deciduous rosette; lamina 12-45 × 14-57 mm, polygonal in outline, cordate, palmatifid (divided for 0.5-0.8 of its length), pilose, with ± erect, eglandular hairs; segments 5-7, obtriangular, 2.2-6.8 mm at the base; petioles to 180 mm long, with patent, eglandular hairs 0.4-1.7 mm long; stipules 2.2-8 × 0.5-2.1 mm, with eglandular hairs on abaxial surface and on the margin, glabrous adaxially. Inflorescence 2-flowered cymules, solitary; peduncles (4-)40(-61) cm long, with patent to retrorse, not appressed, eglandular hairs 0.3-2.0 mm long; bracteoles 1.5-7.4 × 0.3-0.8 mm, lanceolate, with eglandular hairs on abaxial surface and on the margin, glabrous adaxially; pedicels 8-34 mm long, with patent to retrorse, not appressed, eglandular hairs 0.2-2.0 mm long; pedicel and peduncle together usually overtopping the subtending leaf. Sepals (3.2-)4.2-5.2(-6.3) × 1.6-2.7 mm, lanceolate, with scarious margins 0.1-0.2 mm wide, with eglandular hairs 0.1 mm long on the abaxial side (and eglandular hairs 0.4-1.8 mm long on the margin), glabrous adaxially. Petals (3-)6(-8.1) × 1.4-4.2 mm, entire, without claw, glabrous on both sides, ciliate on the basal margin, purplish. Filaments 2.4-4.5 mm long, yellowish, glabrous on both sides, ciliate on the basal margin, with hairs up to 0.1-0.3 mm long; anthers 0.4-0.8 × 0.2-0.7 mm, yellowish. Nectaries glabrous. Gynoecium 2.5-4.8 mm long, yellowish. Fruit 13.1-20.6 mm long; mericarps 2.2-3.2 ×1.1-1.8 mm, smooth, with erect-patent, eglandular hairs 0.1-1.5 mm long, usually blackish; rostrum 8.8-15.1 mm long, without a narrowed apex, with erect-patent, eglandular hairs 0.1-1.1 mm long; stigmatic remains (0.6-)1-1.4(-1.6) mm long, with 5 hairy lobes. Seeds 1.6-2.2 × 0.9-1.6 mm, reticulate.

Similar taxa

Most frequently confused with G. retrorsum DC. from which it differs by the straight, patent or curved and retrorse but never appressed rather than long hairs of the petiole and pedicel distinctively retrorse, appressed, and by the dorsal alveolae of the seed mostly 5-6- rather than 4-6-sided, and up to > 0.1 mm rather than c.0.1 mm diameter. The rootstock of G. retrorsum is often turnip-shaped, in G. solanderi the root is more like a long tapering parsnip or carrot.

Flowering

September - April

Flower colours

Violet/Purple

Fruiting

October - June

Life cycle

Seed dispersed by wind, ballistic projection and possibly attachment (Thorsen et al., 2009).

Propagation technique

Easily grown from fresh seed. Thrives in a sunny, well drained soil in full sun. It can become invasive but is easily controlled. A very attractive plant well worth cultivating.

Threats

Not Threatened. However , it has declined from large parts of its former range due to rabbit browsing and the spread of taller, faster growing weeds. If these factors continue it may well qualify in the not to distant future as Threatened.

Etymology

geranium: From the Greek geranos ‘crane’, the fruit of the plant resembling the head and beak of this bird, hence the common name cranesbill.

solanderi: Named after Daniel Carlsson Solander (19 February 1733 - 13 May 1782) who was a Swedish naturalist and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus.

Attribution

Fact Sheet prepared by P.J. de Lange 14 April 2008. Description adapted from Aedo et al. (2005) supplemented with observations based on fresh and cultivated specimens.

References and further reading

Aedo, C., O. Fiz, M. L. Alarcón, C. Navarro, and J. J. Aldasoro. 2005. Taxonomic revision of Geranium sect. Dissecta (Geraniaceae). Systematic Botany 30: 533-558.

Thorsen, M. J.; Dickinson, K. J. M.; Seddon, P. J. 2009. Seed dispersal systems in the New Zealand flora. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 11: 285-309

NZPCN Fact Sheet citation

Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Geranium solanderi Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/geranium-solanderi/ (Date website was queried)

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