California Invasive Plant Council

Geranium lucidum

Common names: shining Geranium

Geranium lucidum (shining Geranium) is an annual or biennial herb/ (family Geraniaceae) with pink flowers and wide, shiny, segmented leaves found in the San Francisco Bay area and north coast ranges of California. It is native to Europe, northern Africa and western Asia. It favors grasslands, dunes, and riparian and bottomland habitat. It self-pollinates and reproduces via seed. Seeds are shot from the plant and can travel 20 feet. People disperse seeds accidentally, especially along roadsides.

Cal-IPC Rating: Watch

CDFA Rating: A?

Explanation of CDFA ratings

• A – A pest of known economic or environmental detriment and is either not known to be established in California or it is present in a limited distribution that allows for the possibility of eradication or successful containment.
• B – A pest of known economic or environmental detriment and, if present in California, it is of limited distribution.
• C – A pest of known economic or environmental detriment and, if present in California, it is usually widespread.
• D – An organism known to be of little or no economic or environmental detriment, to have an extremely low likelihood of weediness, or is known to be a parasite or predator.
• Q – An organism or disorder suspected to be of economic or environmental detriment, but whose status is uncertain because of incomplete identification or inadequate information.
• * – An asterisk next to the rating indicates that a plant is included in the CCR Section 4500 list of California State Noxious Weeds.
• -* – This plant is included in the CCR Section 4500 list of California State Noxious Weeds, but is otherwise not rated.

More details

Assessment(s)

Geranium lucidum Plant Risk Assessment - An evaluation of the potential for a plant to be invasive in California.

Species ID Card

Invasive Species ID Card - To support field identification of early detection species, Cal-IPC has designed a set of Species ID cards that can be downloaded, printed double-sided, and trimmed to size.

Special Reports

Weed Management Notes

Cal-IPC Newsletter Articles

• Opportunity lost: EDRR for Geranium lucidum. Johnson, Doug. Vol 31, Issue 1
• Shiny geranium: A new weed in California. Whitcomb, Amy. Vol 24, Issue 3
• Eradicating knotweeds and other new invaders on California’s North Coast. Eberwein, Amy. Vol 24, Issue 3
• New weed alerts!. DiTomaso, Joe. Vol 13, Issue 4

Cal-IPC Symposium Presentations

Presentations are linked where available. Where a presentation is not available, find more information by reading the abstract in the Cal-IPC Symposia Archive.

• Shiny Geranium management in northwestern California. Hoffman, Patrick (2024)
• North Coast invasive weeds: Early detection rapid response eradication project. Ferson, Susannah; Avila-Martinez, Carla (2021)
• Washington State Noxious Weed Control Board. Fee, Mary (2021)
• Weed Red Alerts. Kelch, Dean (2018)
• New Weed Alerts! DiTomaso, Joseph (2013)
• 2005 Cal-IPC weed alerts, new invasions, recent expansions, and a few others to be on the look-out for. DiTomaso, Joseph M. (2005)

Other Geranium lucidum Information

• CalPhotos - Images of plants taken mostly in California.
• Calflora - Distribution map and records of this species in California.
• CalWeedMapper - Distribution map of this species in California with ability to determine regional priorities.
• EDDMapS - Distribution of this species in North America.
• Jepson Interchange - Information on this plant's taxonomy, biology, and distribution from UC Berkeley's Jepson Herbarium.
• USDA PLANTS Database - Information on identification and distribution, with links to websites in individual states.

Additional photos