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Erodium moschatum

Common name:	Musk Storksbill	Family:	Geraniaceae
Author:	(L.)L'Hé r.	Botanical references:	17, 200
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Mediterranean areas and southwestern Europe, including Britain.
Habitat:	Waste places and rocky ground, mainly near the sea in Britain, mainly near the southern coast[245].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	2	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	1

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	Geranium cicutarium var. moschatum[G]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Almizclera [E], Musk Stork's-bill [L], Musky Stork's Bill [P], Musky Stork's-bill [B], White-stemmed Filaree [L],
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Geraniales. Geranium family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Africa Spain

Physical Characteristics

Annual/Biennial growing to 0.5m. It is hardy to zone 6. It is in flower from July to August, and the seeds ripen from August to September. The scented flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Insects. We rate it 2/5 for edibility and 1/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils and requires well-drained soil. The plant prefers neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires dry or moist soil. The plant can tolerate maritime exposure.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Cultivated Beds.

Edible Uses

Leaves.

Leaves - raw or cooked[161, 177]. Added to salads or used as a potherb[183].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Astringent Febrifuge.

The plant is febrifuge[240]. A tincture of the plant is used in the treatment of dysentery[240].

Other Uses

Dye.

A green dye can be obtained from the whole plant. It does not require a mordant[168].

Cultivation details

Prefers a sunny well-drained position and a limy soil or at least one that is not acid[1].
The bruised leaves emit a strong scent of musk[245].

Propagation

Seed - sow in situ as soon as the seed is ripe in the late summer. The seed can also be sown in situ in late spring[1]. It usually germinates readily[200].

Scent

Leaves: Crushed: The bruised leaves emit a strong scent of musk.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[C] Taxon data. from the CalFlora database.
Images from the CalPhoto database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for the family Geraniaceae.

To be included in the Flora of China.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[17] Clapham, Tootin and Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press 1962
A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.

[161] Yanovsky. E. Food Plants of the N. American Indians. Publication no. 237. U.S. Depf of Agriculture.
A comprehensive but very terse guide. Not for the casual reader.

[168] Grae. I. Nature's Colors - Dyes from Plants. MacMillan Publishing Co. New York. 1974 ISBN 0-02-544950-8
A very good and readable book on dyeing.

[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[240] Chopra. R. N., Nayar. S. L. and Chopra. I. C. Glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants (Including the Supplement). Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi. 1986
Very terse details of medicinal uses of plants with a wide range of references and details of research into the plants chemistry. Not for the casual reader.

[245] Genders. R. Scented Flora of the World. Robert Hale. London. 1994 ISBN 0-7090-5440-8
An excellent, comprehensive book on scented plants giving a few other plant uses and brief cultivation details. There are no illustrations.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963

This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Erodium+moschatum
This page (US) http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Erodium+moschatum

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