Erodium laciniatum (Cav.) Willd.
Diagnostic description:
A hairy annual or biennial. Stems erect or decumbent, up to 70 cm long. Leaves 1.5 to 11 cm long; the basal ones ovate, pinnately lobed or pinnatifid, with 3 to 5 lobes, which are further irregularly toothed; the upper ones deeply pinnatifid or pinnatisect. Flowers in umbels of 3 to 10 flowers. Petals violet-pink, wrinkled, 7 to 12 mm long. Awns of fruit 4 to 9 cm long. Fruits 5 to 8 mm long, hairy; pits with glands, without a furrow below.
Distribution:
Local: Not common in Gibraltar. Found on the East Side sand slopes and at Windmill Hill Flats firing range.
Global: Found throughout the Mediterranean region, south-west Asia and the Canary Islands.
Ecology:
Flowers between February, March and April (May).
Habitat:
Grows on sandy soil near the coast; waste ground.