CXLIX.— THE STORK’S-BILL. 
Erodium cicutarium L’Heritier. 
T HE genus Erodium , named by Charles Louis L’H6ritier from the Greek 
e/DwSi-os, erodios, a heron, while obviously closely allied to Geranium in the 
general character of its flower and fruit, is markedly different in its leaves, which are 
generally pinnately veined and lobed, instead of the palmate arrangement of 
Geranium ; in having no anthers on the stamens of the inner whorl ; and in the 
spiral twisting of the awns of the carpels. It includes some fifty species, inhabiting 
Temperate regions, mostly in the north of the Old World and especially in the 
Mediterranean area, though — on account, no doubt, of their power of seed-dispersal 
and constitutional adaptability — some species have become very widely spread over 
the globe. Our common Hemlock Stork’s-bill ( Erodium cicutarium L’H6ritier), for 
example, belongs originally to the Palaearctic Region, from Siberia and North-West 
India to North Africa and Europe, exclusive of Lapland. Introduced, probably 
accidentally, into the United States, it has long ago become “social ” ; and it is now 
difficult for Californian botanists to realise that it is an introduced plant. Brought 
there, perhaps, with cattle or hay, it is now valued as furnishing the earliest spring 
fodder, and is reputed to give an excellent flavour to milk and butter. It has 
acquired a Spanish name Alfilaria, i.e. Needlewort, and in the dry region of South 
California it is used to provide turf for lawns. Similarly it has spread to the 
Peruvian Andes, where it flourishes at an altitude of 12,500 feet ; whilst it has also 
become general in Tasmania. 
This species is generally annual ; but other members of the genus are 
perennial and, in a few cases, shrubby. Though quite commonly occurring in waste 
ground, especially in light, sandy, gravelly, or chalky soil, inland, it specially 
flourishes on sand-hills near the sea ; and, although with us it can hardly be termed 
dominant or social, it often forms an important integral part of the “ Fixed dune 
association ” of the ecologists or of the transitional associations between this and 
the associations of the shifting sands. Here it grows with the Yellow Bedstraw 
( Galium verum Linne), the Ragwort ( Senecio Jacobcea Linne), and the Sea Convolvulus 
{Convolvulus Soldanella Linne) ; or with Rest-harrow ( Ononis repens Linne), Burnet 
Rose {Rosa spinosissima Linne), and Hound’s-tongue ( Cynoglossum officinale Linne), its 
spreading rosettes of red-tinged stems, finely cut leaves, and bright pink florets 
forming an attractive feature in the carpeting of the ground. 
Its massive tap-root gives it a firm hold in the loose soil, whilst the prostrate 
stems are effective opponents to the wind. The whole plant is covered with 
scattered hairs, some of which are glandular and render it viscid ; and it has a some- 
what unpleasant pungent smell, especially when bruised. The bipinnate leaves, 
which have lanceolate stipules, long ago suggested a comparison with those of the 
Hemlock ( Cicuta ) ; and Linnaeus, who retained these plants in his genus Geranium , 
used the specific name cicutarium for the earlier descriptive binominal ciculce folio. 
