Geranium traversii

Detailed description

Leafy, silvery grey to greyish-green, rosette-forming perennial herb forming patches up to 0.8 × 0.6 m. Caulorrhiza stout, deeply descending, woody at base, usually branched near ground level, often stoloniferous, up to 30 mm diameter, densely covered in persistent, frayed, petiole and stipule remnants. Stem and leaves usually densely covered in silvery hairs. Basal leaves on slender petioles up to 220 mm long. Stipules broad-ovate, cuspidate. Lamina 15–100 mm diameter, broad-reniform, orbicular, mostly lobed to ½ way but sometimes deeper; lobes 5–7–(8), cuneate, often toothed or lobed further. Cauline leaves similar but smaller. Flowers solitary 20–25–(30) mm diameter; peduncles up to 100 mm long, retrorsely hairy; bracteoles narrow-lanceolate, subacuminate. Sepals 7–11 × 2–4 mm, narrow-ovate to broad-ovate, densely covered with grey hairs, cuspidate. Petals 12–(16) × 10–(14) mm, broad-obovate or obovate-oblong, shortly clawed, pink or white, rarely pale purple, in all usually with up to 5 more darkly pigmented, longitudinal veins. Stamens < or > pistil. Mericarps silky hairy; beak 8–24 mm long. Seed 2.2–2.8 mm long, surface dull, dark brown, red-brown, dark purple-brown to black-brown, elliptic-oblong, not compressed, cells of primary reticulum, 4–6-sided, broadly oblong to isodiametric (0.04–0.15 mm long)