If you take a Sunday afternoon drive around the area, you might discover the roadside ditches filled with pink color since the wild geraniums are blooming. Geranium maculatum is another wildflower with lots of names although I have only known it as wild geranium but other common names include alum root, alum bloom, cranesbill, spotted cranesbill, wild cranesbill, spotted geranium, and wood geranium. The fruit capsule looks like a long beak-like column which resembling a crane’s bill and why it has those other common names.

This wildflower was used medicinally by Native Americans to treat diarrhea and open sores or wounds. I didn’t try it on the deer fly bite on my arm so I might have to check that plant property out.

Ditches in Pink

The Wild Germanium are making an appearance in the ditches and woods. Geranium is derived from the Greek word geranos, meaning crane. Though this name seems curious, it actually refers to the shape of the seed pod, not the flower. The papery seed capsules, which split lengthwise into five long peels, resemble a crane or stork. Cranesbill and Storksbill are two common names for Wild Geranium describing this likeness.

One of the most surprising and beautiful aspects of Wild Geranium is the color of its pollen. Unlike most wildflowers with traditionally yellow, orange, or white pollen, when viewed under a microscope Wild Geranium’s pollen is bright blue. This attracts a variety of insects, including the digger wasp, which come to pollinate the flower.

Wild Geranium