Scientific Name: Geranium maculatum L.
Family: Geraniaceae (Geranium Family)
Common name: Wild Geranium
Description: Native, herbaceous perennial from a thick rhizome; flowers April-June.
Range and Habitat: In South Carolina found in chiefly in the mountains and piedmont in cove forests, bottomland forests, and other calcium-rich forests.
In Porcher’s time… wild geranium was a powerful astringent used for the treatment of hemorrhages, chronic diarrhea, cholera infantum, and as a local application for sore throats and ulcerations of the mouth.
See the historical entry on this plant as it appears in Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests