Some type of Cranesbill?

[Pete Collins]

Can someone please identify this flower for me? I'm pretty sure it is a type of cranesbill, but I've no real idea which one. I found it today, growing by a roadside in S. Oxfordshire on chalky soil, if that helps.

[Tiggrx]

This is Musk Mallow (Malva moschata)

[Hobjob]

Pete

At this late stage of the summer (what summer!) any cranesbill
or storksbill would be likely to have the charactertic fruits
clearly visible, which I find very helpful in getting me to the
right family, as I hate keying out

[Pete Collins]

Thanks, Tiggrx and Hobjob.

I am familiar with Musk Mallow, it's actually one of my favourite flowers and when I saw these large pink flowers that is what I expected them to be (incidentally, I'd seen a lot of Common Mallow on the same walk). However the leaves didn't look right for Musk Mallow, they looked more like a type of Cranesbill to me. Here is another photo (apologies for poor quality, the flowers were blowing about a lot in the wind) that shows the leaves. This is actually a different plant to the other photos, but just a few feet away.

[aeshna5]

As Tiggrx has said this is definitely Musk Mallow. As well as being familiar with it as a wild plant, I've also grown it + have seen it with such leaves. Not a Geranium!

[Joemuz]

Im shure i have seen them quite a lot but havnt a clue what they are????
I thought they where a weed ?
Cheers, Joemuz

[Pete Collins]

Originally Posted by aeshna5

As Tiggrx has said this is definitely Musk Mallow. As well as being familiar with it as a wild plant, I've also grown it + have seen it with such leaves. Not a Geranium!

Thanks aeshna5.

I guess you learn something new everyday. As I've said, I'm quite familiar with Musk Mallow and don't normally have any problem identifying it, but I was completely thrown by the leaves which did not look right to me. In my ignorance, I thought the leaves looked like some type of Cranesbill, that was all I was going on. And in my defence, none of my three books on wildflowers show Musk Mallow as having leaves like these.

Thanks for everybody's comments!

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by Pete Collins

Thanks aeshna5.

I guess you learn something new everyday. As I've said, I'm quite familiar with Musk Mallow and don't normally have any problem identifying it, but I was completely thrown by the leaves which did not look right to me. In my ignorance, I thought the leaves looked like some type of Cranesbill, that was all I was going on. And in my defence, none of my three books on wildflowers show Musk Mallow as having leaves like these.

Thanks for everybody's comments!

I had this exact same issue this year, a musk mallow who's leaves didn't quite fit, they were just like yours, similar but chunkier and more stumpy... you're not a lone - though as I was by Felixstowe port I wondered if it was a 'foreign' mallow that had hitched a lift over....

[Pete Collins]

Thanks Gill.

By the way, talking of things 'hitching a lift over' to Felixstowe, I think I've mentioned before on another thread that I once saw a Snowy Owl at Trimley Marshes just outside Felixstowe port that really had done just that! Apparently a few of them had landed on a ship in the Atlantic, and stayed on board until it reached Rotterdam, then this one 'jumped ship' and popped over to Felixstowe. It stayed for a few weeks and attracted crowds of birdwatchers, so I'm sure plenty of other WABbers saw it too.

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by Pete Collins

Thanks Gill.

By the way, talking of things 'hitching a lift over' to Felixstowe, I think I've mentioned before on another thread that I once saw a Snowy Owl at Trimley Marshes just outside Felixstowe port that really had done just that! Apparently a few of them had landed on a ship in the Atlantic, and stayed on board until it reached Rotterdam, then this one 'jumped ship' and popped over to Felixstowe. It stayed for a few weeks and attracted crowds of birdwatchers, so I'm sure plenty of other WABbers saw it too.

I have often wondered if swallows sit on the cross channel ferries - it would save them a lot of time and energy if the did!!

Wow I think if I stumbled across a snowy owl I'd fall over in suprise!!