This is a very hairy annual which grows in a trailing and straggly way to about 30 cm high. From June to August, numerous pink, 5-petalled flowers (10-12 mm) are borne, mostly in pairs, on short stalks. The round edges of the petals are unnotched and the sepals are not bristle-tipped. The downy leaves are not as round as the name would suggest but are long-stalked and kidney-shaped with quite shallow lobes. The hairs on this plant are glandular which means that there are little glands at the end of each hair and this helps to identify it from other similar-looking plants. This is a native plant which prefers dry, grassy places, calcareous soil and even waste-ground. It is a member of the Geraniaceae family.
I first recorded and photographed this plant in New Ross, County Wexford in 2011 when Paul Green, BSBI’s Vice-County Recorder for Counties Waterford and Wexford, pointed it out to me.
If you are satisfied you have correctly identified this plant, please submit your sighting to the National Biodiversity Data Centre
