Index of Species Information
SPECIES: Geranium maculatum
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| Spotted geranium. Photo by Jennifer Anderson, hosted by the USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database. |
Introductory
SPECIES: Geranium maculatum
AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION :
Sullivan, Janet. 1992. Geranium maculatum. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online].
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station,
Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/forb/germac/all.html [].
Revisions:
On 3 April 2018, the common name of this species was changed in FEIS
from: wild geranium
to: spotted geranium. Images were also added.
ABBREVIATION :
GERMAC
SYNONYMS :
NO-ENTRY
NRCS PLANT CODE :
GEMA
COMMON NAMES :
spotted geranium
cranesbill
spotted cranesbill
wild cranesbill
wild geranium
TAXONOMY :
The scientific name of spotted geranium is Geranium maculatum L.
Named varieties listed by Jones and Jones [22] are: Geranium maculatum
var. album Lauman, Geranium maculatum var. plenum Lauman, and Geranium
maculatum var. maculatum. A white-flowered form is listed as Geranium
maculatum forma albiflorum House [15,22].
LIFE FORM :
Forb
FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS :
No special status
OTHER STATUS :
NO-ENTRY
DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Geranium maculatum
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION :
Spotted geranium is found throughout eastern North America from southern
Ontario south to Georgia and west to eastern Oklahoma and eastern North
and South Dakota [15,19,27].
 |
| Distribution of spotted geranium. Map courtesy of USDA, NRCS. 2018. The PLANTS Database.
National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC [2018, April 3] [35]. |
ECOSYSTEMS :
FRES10 White - red - jack pine
FRES12 Longleaf - slash pine
FRES13 Loblolly - shortleaf pine
FRES14 Oak - pine
FRES15 Oak - hickory
FRES17 Elm - ash - cottonwood
FRES18 Maple - beech - birch
STATES :
AL AR CT DE GA IL IN IA KS KY
LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO NE NH
NJ NY NC ND OH OK PA RI SC SD
TN VT VA WA WI ON PQ
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS :
NO-ENTRY
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS :
K081 Oak savanna
K082 Mosaic of K074 and K100
K095 Great Lakes pine forest
K099 Maple - basswood forest
K100 Oak - hickory forest
K101 Elm - ash forest
K102 Beech - maple forest
K103 Mixed mesophytic forest
K104 Appalachian oak forest
K106 Northern hardwoods
K108 Northern hardwoods - spruce forest
K109 Transition between K104 and K106
K110 Northeastern oak - pine forest
K111 Oak - hickory - pine forest
K112 Southern mixed forest
SAF COVER TYPES :
20 White pine - northern red oak - red maple
21 Eastern white pine
25 Sugar maple - beech - yellow birch
26 Sugar maple - basswood
27 Sugar maple
28 Black cherry - maple
39 Black ash - American elm - red maple
42 Bur oak
51 White pine - chestnut oak
52 White oak - black oak - northern red oak
53 White oak
55 Northern red oak
57 Yellow-poplar
59 Yellow-poplar - white oak - northern red oak
60 Beech - sugar maple
75 Shortleaf pine
78 Virginia pine - oak
82 Loblolly pine - hardwood
83 Longleaf pine - slash pine
108 Red maple
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES :
NO-ENTRY
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES :
Jones [20,21] reported spotted geranium as a dominant understory species in
a submesic northern red oak (Quercus rubra)/white oak (Q. alba)/wild
geranium community type in the hilly coastal plain province of South
Carolina. The overstory dominance is shared among northern red oak,
white oak, pignut hickory (Carya glabra), and yellow-poplar
(Liriodendron tulipifera). The shrub layer dominants are sweet-shrub
(Calycanthus floridus) and redbud (Cercis canadensis), with white ash
(Fraxinus americanus) in canopy gaps. The ground layer herbaceous
dominants include spotted geranium, Christmas fern (Polystichum
acrostichoides), bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), lovage (Ligusticum
canadense), and cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa).
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS
SPECIES: Geranium maculatum
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE :
White-tailed deer eat the flowers of spotted geranium. Birds eat the
maturing fruits, and Lepidopteran larvae have been observed feeding on
the flowers and fruits [1].
PALATABILITY :
NO-ENTRY
NUTRITIONAL VALUE :
NO-ENTRY
COVER VALUE :
NO-ENTRY
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES :
NO-ENTRY
OTHER USES AND VALUES :
Extracts of spotted geranium have been used medicinally by Native Americans
to treat diarrhea and various mouth ailments. Powdered preparations
were used to treat open sores or wounds. The rhizome contains tannic
and gallic acids, which contribute to its astringent quality. Clinical
trials have shown that tannins promote blood clotting, supporting its
use for bleeding sores or wounds [5].
Spotted geranium can be cultivated as an ornamental by transplanting
rhizomes or by starting from stratified seed [13,27].
OTHER MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
Spotted geranium appears to be dependent on the continued existence of
undisturbed stands of mesic, open forests. It is not usually found on
disturbed sites [4] and is not noted for rapid colonization [27]. It
appears to be sensitive to acidification of soils, and thus areas that
are experiencing acid rain are likely to become less hospitable to wild
geranium [18].
Spotted geranium is easily cultivated. DeVault [13] transplanted rhizomes
of plants growing under closed forest to a fertile, full sun garden. The
plants, which had been growing poorly, responded with vigorous growth
under garden conditions.
BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Geranium maculatum
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS :
Spotted geranium is perennial herb 8 to 24 inches (20-60 cm) tall [29]. It
grows from a stout, branched, underground rhizome that spreads
horizontally up to 6 inches (15 cm). The rhizome bears 10 to 30
sparsely branched roots from the sides and undersurface.
Vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal structures are present, increasing with
decreasing fertility of the soil [7,27,29,32]. A small proportion (4
percent) of populations are male-sterile; these female plants produce an
average of 60 percent more seed than hermaphroditic plants [1].
RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM :
Hemicryptophyte
Geophyte
REGENERATION PROCESSES :
Spotted geranium perennates from a stout rhizome with blunt white tips that
hold the following year's bud [27,32]. Fragmentation of the rhizome
results in new individuals [28]. Natural stands are mosaics of clones
that appear to have enlarged from old, individual plants and persist by
vegetative means only [27]. Spotted geranium is long-lived and has a low
mortality rate [1]. When crowded, the roots may rise above the soil
surface, exposing the buds to freezing [32]. Martin [27] noted that the
rhizomes are found at the soil surface (A1 horizon) under closed
canopies but in open communities are as deep as 3 to 4 inches (7-9 cm)
below the surface.
Young plants usually bloom for the first time in their second or third
year but will flower the first year following germination in the
greenhouse [27,32]. Production of flower buds, which will expand the
following year, takes place when sufficient nutrients are stored
[12,27]. Under closed canopies, only 18.8 percent of the plants flower,
as opposed to 97 percent in full sunlight [27]. Spotted geranium is
self-compatible but depends on pollinators for seed set. The most
common pollinators are bees (honeybees, bumblebees) and syrphid flies.
Other visitors to the flowers include beetles and ants [1,27,28,37].
Seeds are produced in a dehiscent fruit and are scattered by explosive
dispersal an average of 10 feet (3 m) and a maximum of 30 feet (9 m).
There is no obvious secondary dispersal vector (i.e. not carried by
rainwash or animals) [27,32,33].
Schiffman [31] reported spotted geranium seeds in the seed bank of a
chestnut oak (Quercus prinus)/scarlet oak (Q. coccinea) forest. The
seed coat is only slightly permeable, and the seed requires
stratification before germination will take place. The longer the cold
treatment, the higher the germination rate [27]. The seeds can have a
dormancy period in excess of 400 days. In a study of savanna
restoration, Bronny [8] reported that spotted geranium reappeared when
cattle grazing was prevented on an oak savanna site, indicating either
its presence in the seed bank or the persistence of rhizomes in the
soil.
SITE CHARACTERISTICS :
Spotted geranium is found in woods, coves, thickets, and meadows [15,29].
It appears to prefer more mesic sites such as those found on mid to
lower slopes with northern and eastern aspects; preferred soils are clay
loam to sandy clay loams and sandy loams [9,20,21,23,27], of average to
above-average fertility, and from slightly alkaline or neutral to
slightly acidic [7,27,32]. In a study of plant distribution and soil
acidity, Wherry [36] found spotted geranium in abundance on a rich
bottomland site on Long Island with soil pH of 6.5. Fifty years later,
on the same site, Greller and others [18] found that the soil pH had
declined to 4.08, and spotted geranium had become a very minor component of
the community.
Spotted geranium is abundant in dense patches in natural openings
throughout mesic woodlands [27,37]. It is found on sites protected from
strong winds, in open shade on hillsides, and on shaded roadsides [32].
Cull [11], working on a project to establish native plants on old
highway verges in Illinois, found it already present on the site.
In a study relating understory herb distribution to overstory trees,
Crozier and others [10] reported that the highest positive association
of spotted geranium is with white oak when compared with its other common
associates: beech (Fagus grandifolia), yellow-poplar, red maple (Acer
rubrum), sweet birch (Betula lenta), black cherry (Prunus serotina), and
northern red oak. This association may be a result of higher calcium in
the soils under white oaks, due to runoff down the trunk of the tree.
Tree associates in addition to the above named include shagbark hickory
(Carya ovata), white ash (Fraxinus americana), eastern hophornbeam
(Ostrya virginiana), sugar maple (Acer saccharum), and American elm
(Ulmus americana) [4,9,19,20,24].
Common understory associates include Solomon's seal (Polygonatum
pubescens), false Solomon's seal (Smilacina racemosa), snow trillium
(Trillium grandiflorum), Anemonella thalictroides, common mayapple
(Podophyllum peltatus), sedge (Carex spp.), and bellwort (Uvularia
grandiflora) [9,10,12,34].
SUCCESSIONAL STATUS :
Spotted geranium is moderately shade tolerant. It is found on disturbed
sites, but populations of spotted geranium are best established in open,
undisturbed forest [27]. In a study of secondary succession on the New
Jersey Piedmont, Bard [4] found populations of spotted geranium on
undisturbed sites and did not find it in abandoned fields at any stage
of succession. This may indicate that its presence in seed banks is
short-lived and/or that spotted geranium is not an effective colonizer.
SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT :
The basal leaves of spotted geranium emerge in early spring (around the
period of vernal canopy closure) over a period of 4 to 6 weeks,
attaining 50 percent of total growth between late April and the first
week of May [7]. The stems elongate in April, and blooms appear from
April to June, setting fruit 3 to 5 weeks later [27,29,32]. Flower buds
are formed in the year previous to flowering and are enclosed in the
winter bud. Cauline leaves senesce around October, turning red and
yellow, and are lost shortly therafter. The basal leaves die down in
October and November in the midwestern states, later in the southern
states [27].
FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Geranium maculatum
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS :
NO-ENTRY
FIRE REGIMES :
Find fire regime information for the plant communities in which this
species may occur by entering the species name in the FEIS home page under
"Find Fire Regimes".
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY :
Rhizomatous herb, rhizome in soil
Ground residual colonizer (on-site, initial community)
Secondary colonizer - off-site seed
FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Geranium maculatum
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT :
No direct documentation of the direct effect of fire on spotted geranium is
available. However, in light of the fact that the rhizome is found at
the soil surface under closed canopies and 3 to 4 inches (7-9 cm) deep
under open canopies [27], it is reasonable to suggest that the plant is
more easily killed by fire where the rhizome is closer to the soil
surface.
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT :
NO-ENTRY
PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE :
Spotted geranium increases in abundance immediately after fire [2]. On a
site invaded by black cherry and multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora), wild
geranium reappeared following a prescribed fire that top-killed the
invading cherry saplings [8].
The Research Paper by Bowles and others 2007 provides information on
postfire responses of several plant species, including spotted geranium,
that was not available when this species review was originally written.
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE :
NO-ENTRY
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
NO-ENTRY
REFERENCES
SPECIES: Geranium maculatum
REFERENCES :
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FEIS Home Page
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