Geranium ?

[Andy Perrin]

Not the best pictures, but anyone recognize this flower? It's got to be a potentilla, but not one I know Mysterious potentilla was a geranium.

 

 

[Andrea B.]

It is some species of Geranium. I would guess a Geranium maculatum. But I don't think this is a wild flower? It is in somebody's garden? The wild G. maculatum is not white (well, not the ones I've seen anyway). I cannot be sure of this ID because I don't have a clear view of the leaf or the way the carpel is constructed. (Fused at base?)

[Andy Perrin]

Haha well the joke is on me, I was sure it was a potentilla. Yes, it was in a garden.

 

The UV look is a lot more like nfoto's g. sanguineum:

http://www.ultravioletphotography.com/content/index.php/topic/22-geranium-sanguineum-bloody-cranes-bill/

[Andrea B.]

Yes it does.

My photo of G. maculatum is much more UV-absorbing than above.

 

A photo of the leaf might lead to further identification. But with cultivars (garden plants), it is sometimes difficult to determine species.

 

Your initial impression of Potentilla was not unreasonable. There are similarities. I sometimes wonder how botanists manage to sort all this out. I've learned maybe tens or hundreds of flowers, but there are thousands, millions!