Erodium guttatum, annual or perennial?

[maggiepie]

Last year I grew some Erodium guttatum from seed.
I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be hardy here so I brought one indoors to winter.
I had assumed they are perennial but am now wondering if they are annuals as the plant I brought in is just sitting there and looks like it is going to croak.

Here's a couple of pics of one of the plants.

[mark smyth]

I'm not familiar with your plant but ...
Hopleys say it's very hardy but their photo isnt the same as yours http://www.hopleys.co.uk/e/erodium.html
Pottertons show the same plant http://www.pottertons.co.uk/pott/view_product.php?pid=1843

[mark smyth]

I've looked at Robin Parers brilliant web site but she lists nothing tht is similar to yours
http://geraniaceae.com/bin/welcome.cgi

[Luc Gilgemyn]

I've grown Erodium guttatum for years Helen - if I remember well, it survived four or five winters without problems, but I lost it in a very warm/dry summer.

[maggiepie]

Mark, E. guttatum comes from Morocco.
I don't know what those nurseries are selling unless there are TWO versions of it.

Remember this thread?

http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=4594.0

Luc, thanks for your input, maybe the two I left in the garden might survive although we had so much rain during Autumn and early winter I fear they won't.
Would hate to lose them, they are very prolific with flowers. I also like the smell of the leaves.

[Hoy]

Mark, E. guttatum comes from Morocco.
I don't know what those nurseries are selling unless there are TWO versions of it.

Remember this thread?

http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=4594.0

Luc, thanks for your input, maybe the two I left in the garden might survive although we had so much rain during Autumn and early winter I fear they won't.
Would hate to lose them, they are very prolific with flowers. I also like the smell of the leaves.

Helen,
In the "The new Dictionary of Gardening" (Royal Horticultural Society) E guttatum is a perennial European plant (Z8) and the description fits the plants in Mark's links but not your plant at all. So obviously two very different plants share the same name! Somebody has made a mistake

[Lori S.]

We're all noting the same discrepancy... Moroccan sites show Helen's plant as "Erodium guttatum" and suggest it is an accepted name, but some other sites (e.g. ITIS) claim no record of this name.  Various nursery and private sites show a completely different plant (with flowers like  E. petraeum ssp. crispum) as "E.guttatum"... 

[maggiepie]

Hopefully, someone will be able to shed some light on this mystery.

[maggiepie]

http://www.tela-botanica.org/sites/botanique/fr/documents/biblio/articles_en_ligne/apercu_de_la_taxonomie_du_genre_erodium.pdf

[Hoy]

And somone did

[Lori S.]

Helen, that's what I saw as well.  It is possible to find many plant lists and reports from the area where Erodium guttatum is said to occur (Morocco, etc.) that list it as a valid species and the photos in those reports show a plant like yours.

Here's the entry from the much-discussed RHS plant list, which does include the name (unlike ITIS, for example):
http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl/search?q=erodium+guttatum

It says Erodium guttatum (Desf.) Willd. is valid, while Erodium guttatum (Ledeb.) is not valid and is a synonym for E. oxyrhinchum (which has completely different foliage)... which, however, doesn't look anything like the plant shown at so many nursery and European (mainly) private grower sites.
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=250084118

So then I guess the question may be more what is the correct name of the Erodium with whitish flowers with 2 blotched petals that is shown at so many sites... and apparently mislabelled as Erodium guttatum?

[mark smyth]

If only the National Collection of Erodium was still about we could get some answers

[maggiepie]

So then I guess the question may be more what is the correct name of the Erodium with whitish flowers with 2 blotched petals that is shown at so many sites... and apparently mislabelled as Erodium guttatum?

Think you're right, Lori, wonder where one would even start looking to find the answer to that question.

Mark, is there no current National Erodium Collection?
What happened to it?

[Hoy]

For a starter:
http://eunis.eea.europa.eu/species/172665/countries

[Maggi Young]

For a starter:
http://eunis.eea.europa.eu/species/172665/countries

Hmmm.... no mention there of North Africa.......