SCIENTIFIC NAME: Geranium viscosissimum

FACTS: Sticky geranium is the common geranium that currently dots the woods and meadows in the Blue Mountains with scattered pink flowers. It can easily be confused with wild rose flowers this month if you are driving by fast.

Very soon Oregon checkermallow will begin blooming, and it also looks similar. This geranium is common from the western half of southern Canada and the United States.

The flowers are generally pink, but are sometimes reddish-purple, and are about an inch or more wide.

The plants are 2-3 feet high with a few branches near the top, with few flowers blooming at the same time.

The leaves are deeply lobed into about five toothed and narrow lobes that radiate out from the base of the leaf. The seeds are in a long, slender pod about the length and shape of a sewing-machine needle.

Glandular hairs are often found on the stems and give the plant a sticky feel, hence the common name.

Some Northwest American Indian tribes used the plants for medicinal purposes. The leaves were used to make a poultice for treating sores, and one tribe used it for a woman’s love charm.

However, when not blooming, the leaves look very much like those of the very poisonous monkshood, which can be mistaken for a geranium.

WHERE TO FIND: Sticky geranium is blooming at most elevations, from meadows to woods and wet places or dry. They often are crowded in among other plants.