Desertbeauty Dalea
47. FREMONT GERANIUMGeranium Family
Geranium fremontii
This beautiful, midsummer-blooming plant, growing about two feet high, is common on the plateaus and in the cool canyons.
The pink, veined petals, deeply lobed leaves and characteristic geranium odor help identify this plant. Some species have white flowers, but they are not common in this area. The flowers are perfect with five sepals, five petals, and five to ten stamens. The fruit is a long capsule and has given rise to the common name Cranesbill.
Cultivated Geraniums are really Pelargoniums from South Africa.
Fremont Geranium
48. ALFILERIAGeranium Family
Erodium cicutarium
This low-growing plant, spreading close to the ground, with its finely divided leaves and small, starry-pink flowers, puts on a remarkable display in the open meadows of the large canyons. It is one of the earliest blooming species in Zion Canyon, and in seasons of abundant rain it often presents the appearance of a pale-purple lawn.
On ripening, the seed capsules split open and shoot out the seeds—each with a tiny hook in its nose and a tail with successive tight coils like a corkscrew. The seed is apparently screwed into the ground by alternating moisture and dryness which winds and unwinds the seed plume.