Overview:

This member of the geranium family is a biennial or winter annual (germinates in the fall and flowers the following growing season) that reproduces by seed only. It has a slender taproot about 8cm long and fibrous, secondary roots. Stork’s bill is fast growing. Flowering occurs in early spring, allowing the plant to complete its life cycle even where the growing season is short. Stork’s bill is an alternate host for some plant diseases and was introduced from Europe as early as the 1700s.

Habitat

Stork’s bill tolerates a broad range of climate and soils – from clay to sand, moist to dry – and will tolerate partial shade. Plants can mature under conditions of low temperatures and moisture.

Identification:

Stems: Stems can be upright or trailing and grow from 0.5 to 2m long. Stems are reddish in colour and have many fine hairs.
Leaves: Leaves are hairy, divided into feathery lobes or toothed segments and can grow to 30cm long. Seedlings have 3-lobed cotyledons.
Flowers: Flowers have 5 petals and their colour ranges from pink to purple. Flowers (usually 2 or more) are borne on umbrella-like clusters at the end of long, slender stalks.
Seed: Plant ovaries have long (2.5-5cm) styles (‘beaks’ or ‘stork’s bills’) that coil at maturity and envelope the seeds at their base. The styles uncoil in moist weather, driving the seed into the ground.

Prevention:

This plant requires disturbance to become established – prevention means maintaining healthy, desirable plant cover. Stork’s bill is a serious competitor in some agricultural crops and its seed is difficult to clean from small seeded crops. This plant can be spread by contaminated grain, feed, straw, manure and machinery.

Control:

Grazing: May cause livestock poisoning.
Cultivation: May be effective on new infestations before seed production. Repeated cultivations (many times through growing season) may help to eliminate the seed bank.
Mechanical: To eliminate seed production, mow or burn infestations before flowering.
Chemical: Bentazon in a product mix with Imazamox, Fluroxypyr and Napropamide, are registered for use on stork's bill. Always check product labels to ensure the herbicide is registered for use on the target plant in Canada by the Pest Management Regulatory Agency. Always read and follow label directions. Consult your local Agricultural Fieldman or Certified Pesticide Dispenser for more information.
Biological: None researched to date.

 

Selected Images

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Maps

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Invasive Listing Sources

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• California Invasive Plant Council
• Colorado Noxious Weeds
• Jil M. Swearingen, Survey of invasive plants occurring on National Park Service lands, 2000-2007
• Nonnative Invasive Species in Southern Forest and Grassland Ecosystems
• WeedUS - Database of Plants Invading Natural Areas in the United States

References

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Common Name Reference: Weed Science Society of America Common Names List

Scientific Name Reference: USDA, NRCS. 2010. The PLANTS Database. National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA, USA.