Botanical Series: Wild Geranium

If you are an insect watch out for wild or sticky geranium (Geranium viscosissnum). The sticky substance produced on the stem and foliage may attract and kill you. Botanists have studied this plant to find out its protocarnivorous behaviors of trapping, digesting, and absorbing/dissolving proteins of insects.  Lucky for us this plant is non threatening and is found medicinally beneficial.

Geranium viscosissnum

This plant is a perennial herb with long, often spreading, sticky glandular hairs. The petals range from faint pinks to purple magentas with strong purple veins. For identifying this plant look for 5 saucer-shaped petals 1.5-2 cm long, and sticky glands along the stalks ₍₂₎. The inflorescence is a flat-topped cyme (see illustration below), meaning the terminal flower blooms first ₍₁₎.

You will find this plant growing in dry to moist, open, and often sunny sites on open grasslands and foothills of montane and subalpine zones _{(5, 6)}. This plant has a broad habitat range persisting east of the Cascades into California’s Sierra Nevada range and north into British Columbia, spreading east to Saskatchewan and south along the Rocky Mountains as far as New Mexico _{(6, 3)}.

Geranium Illustration

An abundant and widespread plant makes for ethical and easy collecting. The flowers and leaves are edible, but have astringent qualities, which make them less appealing to eat. Herbalists value this plant as a gentle remedy for diarrhea and gastric or urinary irritations. A powdered root form has the strongest astringent action and was commonly used by Blackfeet Indians to stop bleeding ₍₆₎. Collect the roots anytime after this plant has flowered from early summer to late fall. As for the leaves, only collect them when the plant is flowering from May to July ₍₃₎. If snowpack from the previous winter was heavy you will find this plant flowering in open subalpine zones into July. Otherwise May and June will likely be the best time to harvest the leaves in lower montane zones.

If you are cultivating the leaves or roots without the flowers, make sure you know how to properly identify the plant by vegetative characteristics because the young leaves can easily be mistaken as young Larkspur (Delphinium) or monkshood (Aconitum), which are both dangerous ₍₃₎. Using the floral whorls are a sure way to properly identify this plant if you are uncomfortable using only vegetative characteristics.

This summer I harvested the leaves for an infusion. In time properties from the leaves will infuse into the carrier oil, and then I will press the leaves out and use the oil to make a skin salve. When harvesting the leaves, make sure the plant and it's environment are healthy. Color is a good way to tell this. Look for disturbances in the area. Also look closely at the plant for disease; this can be detected by spotting, withering, yellowing, or browning. Although sometimes change in color symbolizes a lack of nutrients. For example yellowing can indicate nitrogen deficiency. Regardless, look for a strong healthy green plant in a
beautiful and peaceful environment. Happy harvesting! 

Work Cited

₁ Harris, James, and Melinda Harris. Plant Identification Terminology.  2000. Spring Lake Publishing, second edition.

₂ Kershaw, Linda, MacKinnon, Andy and Jim Pojar. Plants of the Rocky Mountains. 1998. Lone Pine.

₃ Moore, Michael. Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West. 2003. Museum of New Mexico Press.

₄ Spomer, George G.  July 1998.  “Evidence of Protocarnivorous Capabilities in Geranium viscosissum  and Potentilla aruta and Other Sticky Plants,” International Journal of Plant Sciences 160, no. 1 (January 1999): 98-101. 

₅ States, Diahntha and Jack States. Wildflowers of Wyoming.  2015. Lulu Publishing Services, second edition.

₆ Tilford, Gregory. Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West. 2009. Mountain Press Publishing Company.