Wild Geranium, Frozen Head State Park, Tennessee

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The word "Geranium" is from the Greek "geranos", meaning "crane". This refers to the flower's long and pointed Crane's bill-like seed. The wild geranium's scientific name is geranium maculatum, but it is also known as crane's-bill, spotted crane's-bill, wild crane's-bill, stork's-bill, spotted geranium, alumroot, alum-bloom, chocolate-flower, crowfoot, dove's-foot, old-maid's-nightcap, and shameface. This one was photographed in Tennessee's Frozen Head State Park, but the flower is found on low grounds and open woods from Newfoundland to Manitoba in Canada and south to Georgia and Missouri in the United States.