Prostrate or weakly rising plant. Stems turning reddish, covered with fine hairs. Leaves opposite, nearly round, but deeply cut. Each main lobe with a few lobes at the tip. Flowers on t stalkslonger than themselves, pale purple, with 5 slightly notched petals. Fruit a capsule with a short beak (hence the name "cranesbill"), which splits open to release the seeds. Blooms in late summer.

An invasive weed from Europe, fond of roadsides and waste places. Not common in the Park.

There are a number of geraniums in the Park. The exotic dovefoot geranium (G. molle) has round leaves less deeply notched and deeper pink flowers that seem to have 10 petals. Long-stalked cranesbill (G.columbinum) has pink to purple flowers on long stalks. The native Carolina geranium (G. carolinianum) is an erect plant with deeper notches on the petals, and narrower leaf segments. The native wild geranium (G. maculatum) is a larger plant with larger leaves and larger flowers.