I learned something from my friend, Patti, while we were exploring Tizer Gardens last week. When we chanced upon a sticky purple geranium (one of my favorite wildflowers) my friend, Patti, informed me that sticky purple geraniums are carnivores.
Not long after returning home from
the gardens, I queried the internet to learn more about my purple wildflower.
Formally known as Geranium
viscosissimum, sticky purple geranium is fairly widely distributed throughout
the western states and locally abundant in many places. Geranium is a perennial that blooms throughout
our summer months.
Most interestingly, as Pattie
noted, sicky purple geranium is protocarnivorous. The plant it is able to dissolve protein,
such as insects, that become trapped on its leaf surfaces. The geranium then absorbs nitrogen derived
from the protein. This somewhat gruesome
trick allows sticky purple geranium to survive in nutrient-poor environments.
I find sticky purple geranium throughout my mountain property. Posted today is a photograph of a geranium only a few feet from my cabin door.
Sticky Purple Geranium
—Mitchell Hegman
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