Seasonal Wild Flowers

Sticky Stork's-bill

Latin name

Erodium lebelii

Family

Geraniaceae

Flowering season

April to September

English distribution

It is very thinly scattered round the coast and slightly more

common in the Northwest

See thre BSBI distribution map for Sticky Stork's-bill

Habitat

It is found on bare, sandy places – usually stabilised sand

dunes by the sea.

The plants shown here were taken on Cogden Beach, West

Dorset, close to a sandy path between grassland and

shingle.

Description

Sticky Stork’s-bill is a native, annual, mainly prostrate,

creeping herb.

The flowers are smaller (up to 1cm) than Common

Stork’s-bill and the 2 larger petals do not have black

spots.

There are fewer flowers (2-4) in a cluster in Sticky

Stork’s-bill.

Leaves are pinnately-lobed, greyish green and rather

hairy (sticky to the touch), often with sand attached.

Stems are hairy and creeping – rooting at the nodes.

The literature and guide books are not very clear

about the differences between Sticky Stork’s-bill and

the maritime strains of Common Stork’s-bill,

E. cicutarium subsp. dunense.

The plants shown on this page and the Common

Stork’s-bill page do appear to be different.

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Sticky Stork's-bill, 3-4 flowers per cluster

Flower - no spots on bigger petals

Hairy sepals and flower stem

Fruits - lobed capsules

Hairy leaves

Sand grains stuck to stem and leaves (sticky)

Creeping stem

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