FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS OF ARIZONA 507 



5. Geranium parryi (Engelm.) Heller, Cat. North Amer. PL ed. 2, 7. 



1900. 



Geranium fremontii Torr. var. parryi Engelm., Amer. Jour. 

 Sci. ser. 2, 33: 405. 1862. 



Kaibab Plateau and San Francisco Peaks (Coconino County), 7,000 

 to 8,500 feet, June. Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and northern Arizona. 



It is doubtful whether this form is specifically distinct from G. fre- 

 montii Torr. 



6. Geranium atropurpureum Heller, Torrey Bot. Club Bui. 28: 195. 



1898. 



Apache County to Hualpai Mountain (Mohave County), south to 

 Cochise and Pima Counties, 5,000 to 8,800 feet, very common in yel- 

 low pine forest, June to September. Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, 

 and Mexico. 



A form with glandular pubescence, at least on the pedicels, var. 

 furcatum (Hanks) Kearney and Peebles (G.furcatum Hanks), is about 

 as common in Arizona as the typical nonglandular form, with which 

 it sometimes grows. 



2. ERODIUM. Heronbill 



Plants annual; leaves palmately lobed or pinnate; stamens 5 or, if 

 10, then the alternate ones rudimentary; bodies of the carpels spindle- 

 shaped, sharp-pointed at base, the persistent styles pubescent on the 

 inner face, becoming spirally twisted at maturity. 



Both of the Arizona species are excellent spring forage plants but 

 alfileria or "fileree" (E. cicutarium) is especially important because of 

 its great abundance. It is believed that alfileria was introduced into 

 the Southwest at an early date by the Spaniards. The plants usually 

 survive only a few weeks in the more arid desert regions, but livestock 

 continue to feed on the dried stems. The corkscrewlike " tails" of the 

 fruits are tightly twisted when dry but uncoil when moist, and as a 

 result the sharp-pointed fruits penetrate the soil as if driven by an 

 auger, as happens also with the fruits of Stipa and other grasses, and 

 with those of mountain-mahogany (Cercocarpus) . 



Key to the species 



1. Leaf blades nearly to quite as wide as long, palmately lobed to almost divided, 

 often cordate at base; herbage canescent with short appressed hairs; sepal 

 tips not appendaged; petals commonly more than 6 mm. long. 



1. E. TEXAXUM. 



1. Leaf blades much longer than wide, pinnate, the leaflets pinnatifid and their 

 segments often cleft; herbage sparsely glandular-villous; sepal tips with 

 1 or 2 white bristlelike appendages; petals not more, commonly less than 

 6 mm. long 2. E. cicutarium. 



1. Erodium texanum A. Gray, Genera Fl. Amer. 2: 130. 1849. 



Gila, Pinal, and Pima Counties, 1,200 to 2,600 feet, common on 

 plains and mesas, February and March. Texas to southeastern Cali- 

 fornia. 



