It occurs in India, Australia, New Guinea, Borneo and Indonesia. Some vagrant, non-breeding birds may be found in New Zealand as well. In Australia, they are found all across the eastern states of  Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland as far north as Cooktown, as well as the eastern part South Australia and the south-western tip of Western Australia. It is also found in parts of Tasmania and South Australia, but are uncommon. Included in their natural distribution range are wildlife parks such as Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary and the Brisbane Botanic Gardens.
The dusky moorhen is found in wetland habitats, with a preference for freshwater marshes and swamps, and are rarely found far from these areas except when foraging in nearby vegetation. They are also found in urban parks such as Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens and often in dams and river banks. They require open water, usually with some cover such as grass, reeds, and other vegetation. In south-east Queensland, they are more likely to be found in areas with taller vegetation, more attached aquatic vegetation, and a larger number of purple swamphens, indicating that the availability of food and other resources affects their numbers and distribution in wetlands. They usually live in low-lying areas, although a pair have been found as high up as 1,580 metres in New Guinea, likely having been separated from their flock.
The birds do not often migrate long distances, and may remain in the same location for eight years or more. They may move to different locations within their range when resources become scarce. Young birds leave their place of birth in autumn and spring, and may be found in locations not normally frequented by adult birds.


Breeding season is from August to January in the south of Australia, with generally one brood, and January to June in the north, often brooding twice. This species builds a bulky nest of reeds or grasses at the water's edge or a few centimetres above the water, often at the base of a  Melaleuca and lays a clutch of 5–11 matte whitish eggs that are covered with red-brown dots and splotches. Tapered oval in shape, they measure 53 mm long by 36 mm wide each and have more prominent markings at the larger end. It is territorial when breeding, but otherwise gregarious. The dusky moorhen may nest alongside the purple swamphen.
Dusky moorhens are diurnal, and roost at nighttime alone, in breeding groups, or in non-breeding flocks. They roost on platforms constructed in reeds set above the water, on branches over the water, and more rarely on the ground in the reeds. During the day they rest at these places, and may also sit on floating vegetation, rocks, logs, and on the banks. In hot weather they may sit high up in trees.
The moorhens frequently flick their conspicuous white and black tail. This may be a signal of alertness or of social status, depending on the context.


The buff-banded rail (Hypotaenidia philippensis) is a distinctively coloured, highly dispersive, medium-sized rail of the rail family, Rallidae. This species comprises several subspecies found throughout much of Australasia and the south-west Pacific region, including the Philippines (where it is known as tikling), New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand (where it is known as the banded rail or moho-pererū in Māori), and numerous smaller islands, covering a range of latitudes from the tropics to the Subantarctic.


It is a largely terrestrial bird the size of a small domestic chicken, with mainly brown upperparts, finely banded black and white underparts, a white eyebrow, chestnut band running from the bill round the nape, with a buff band on the breast.  It utilises a range of moist or wetland habitats with low, dense vegetation for cover.  It is usually quite shy but may become very tame and bold in some circumstances, such as in island resorts within the Great Barrier Reef region.
The buff-banded rail is an omnivorous scavenger which feeds on a range of terrestrial invertebrates and small vertebrates, seeds, fallen fruit and other vegetable matter, as well as carrion and refuse.  Its nest is usually situated in dense grassy or reedy vegetation close to water, with a clutch size of 3–4.  Although some island populations may be threatened, or even exterminated, by introduced predators, the species as a whole appears to be safe and its conservation status is considered to be of Least Concern.


Numerous subspecies are recognised for the buff-banded rail because of repeated dispersion of birds to islands in the Pacific, often followed by founder effects and reduced potential for gene flow. The weka in New Zealand evolved from a lineage with common ancestry to modern buff-tailed banded rail populations, and has changed over time to become flightless.


Described subspecies include:
H. p. admiralitatis (Stresemann, 1929), Admiralty Islands
H. p. anachoretae (Mayr, 1949), Anchorite Islands, PNG
H. p. andrewsi (Mathews, 1911), Cocos buff-banded rail, endemic to the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, endangered
H. p. assimilis (G. R. Gray, 1843), New Zealand
H. p. chlandleri, northern Sulawesi
H. p. christophori (Mayr, 1938), Solomon Islands
H. p. ecaudatus (J. F. Miller, 1783), (SW Pacific)
H. p. goodsoni (Mathews, 1911), Samoa and Niue Islands
H. p. lacustris (Mayr, 1938), (New Guinea)
H. p. lesouefi (Mathews, 1911), New Hanover, Tabar and Tanga Islands, possibly New Ireland
H. p. macquariensis (Hutton, 1879), Macquarie Island rail, endemic to Macquarie Island, extinct
H. p. mellori (Mathews, 1912), Tasmania and mainland Australia
H. p. meyeri (Hartert, 1930), Witu Island, PNG
H. p. pelewensis (Mayr, 1933), Palau
H. p. philippensis (Linnaeus, 1766), Philippines, Sulawesi, Buru and Sunda Islands
H. p. praedo (Mayr, 1949), Skoki Island, Admiralty Islands
H. p. randi (Mayr & Gilliard, 1951)
H. p. reductus (Mayr, 1938), northern New Guinea
H. p. sethsmithi (Mathews, 1911), Vanuatu, Fiji
H. p. swindellsi (Mathews, 1911), New Caledonia and Loyalty Islands
H. p. tounelieri Schodde & Naurois, 1982, Coral Sea Islands
H. p. wahgiensis (Mayr & Gilliard, 1951), central highlands of New Guinea
H. p. wilkinsoni (Mathews, 1911), Flores
H. p. xerophilus (Bemmel & Hoogerwerf, 1940), (Indonesia)
H. p. yorki, Moluccas, western and southern New Guinea


Gamochaeta pensylvanica, the Pennsylvania cudweed or Pennsylvania everlasting, is a widespread species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to South America and introduced into Eurasia, Africa, Australia, and North America. The pensylvanica epithet is a misnomer, as the plant is not native to Pennsylvania and only marginally naturalized there.
Gamochaeta pensylvanica is an annual herb up to 50 cm (20 in) tall. Leaves are up to 7 cm (2.8 in) long, light green because of woolly hairs on the surfaces (though not as dense as in some related species). The plant forms many small flower heads in elongated arrays. Each head contains 3–4 purple disc flowers but no ray flowers.


The masked laughingthrush (Pterorhinus perspicillatus) is a species of laughingthrush found in China and Vietnam. It is often seen in small noisy flocks of seven. Its Chinese name [七姊妹 qī zǐ-mèi] means 'seven sisters'.
This species was formerly placed in the genus Garrulax but following the publication of a comprehensive molecular phylogenetic study in 2018, it was moved to the resurrected genus Pterorhinus.


The length of the green dock beetle varies between sexes, with the males being 4 mm and the females being 7 mm. During the mating season, females have enlarged abdomens. Both sexes are green with a metallic shimmer, which, depending on the light, can be gold green, blue, purple, violet, or red. The legs of this species also shimmer a metallic green, and are strongly built. The antennae are serrated and are medium in length.


The green dock beetle's breeding season is from March to October. There are 2 to 4 broods per year, with the last brood hibernating as an adult. The female lays over 1,000 eggs, laying them in clusters of 20 to 45 on the underside of the food plant's leaves. The eggs are oval in shape, and are cream to yellow, turning orange prior to hatching. After about 3 to 6 days, the larva hatches from the egg. It varies in color from greenish gray to dark brown. Its body is segmented, and will reach a length of 8 mm. Young larvae will drop to the ground if disturbed while feeding, while older larvae secrete a substance which repels competitors from eating the food plant leaves. After three instars, the larva pupates in a burrow about 2 cm underground. The adult emerges 6 to 9 days later.
A multilayer composed of chitin layers alternated with layers which also contain melanin is responsible for the green colouration (this phenomenon is known as structural colour). The development has been investigated using advanced imaging techniques, showing that the multilayer forms during pupation and schlerotisation.


Gaultheria antipoda, commonly known as snowberry or fools beech, is a shrub in the family Ericaceae. It is  endemic to New Zealand.


G. antipoda is an upright or spreading shrub that grows to 1–2 metres (3.3–6.6 ft) high. The leaves are 5–15 mm (0.20–0.59 in) long, and are leathery, shiny, with small serrations. G. antipoda flowers around November, followed by white to red berries in late summer and autumn. Unlike some other Gaultheria species that exhibit gynodioecy, G. antipoda is a hermaphroditic species (the individuals produce both pollen and seeds).


This species is found in the North Island between 37° - 39°30'S in lowland to subalpine scrub habitat particularly on cliffs and rocky places.


Gaultheria depressa, commonly known as the mountain snow berry or alpine wax berry, is a small ground-hugging shrub of the heath family Ericaceae native to rocky alpine areas of Tasmania, Australia, and New Zealand.


In Australia, Gaultheria depressa is a prostrate shrub 10 to 20 cm (4 to 8 in) high and 50 to 150 cm (19.5 to 59 in) across. It grows larger in New Zealand. The small leaves can be oval or round and measure 0.5 to 1 cm (0.20 to 0.39 in) in length and have serrate margins. The small white tubular flowers appear from September to January and are followed by white or red fruit which is around 1 cm (0.39 in) in diameter. The berries are edible.


Joseph Dalton Hooker described Gaultheria depressa in 1847 from a collection by Ronald Campbell Gunn at Ben Lomond in Tasmania. The species name is Latin depressa "flat". Analysis of DNA shows the next closest relative to Gaultheria depressa is the New Zealand species Gaultheria antipoda, which suggests the Australian populations of G. depressa dispersed to Australia from New Zealand. The next closest relative to the two species is the New Zealand species Gaultheria oppositifolia.


In New Zealand, the prostrate habit and dependent fruit shielded by foliage from above suggest it is suited for dispersal by lizards. Furthermore, the ground weta species (Zealandosandrus maculifrons) has been recorded eating the fruit.
It is suitable for rockeries in gardens in temperate climates and has been available commercially in England. It prefers well-drained acidic soil in part shade.


Early settlers in the southern district of New Zealand Otago used to make snowberry pies out of the Gaultheria depressa fruit.


This species has the following varieties:
Gaultheria depressa var. depressa (native to Tasmania and New Zealand)
Gaultheria depressa var. novae-zealandiae (endemic to New Zealand)


Gaultheria hispidula, commonly known as the creeping snowberry or moxie-plum, is a perennial spreading ground-level vine of the heath family Ericaceae. It is native to North America and produces small white edible berries. It fruits from August to September. Its leaves and berries taste and smell like wintergreen.


Gaultheria hispidula is an evergreen prostrate shrub that forms a mat of stems and leaves that can reach 1 m (3.3 ft) in diameter and only 10 cm (3.9 in) high. The small leaves, which are under 1 cm (0.39 in) long, are arranged alternately along the stems. The pale green-white flowers are seen in spring, followed by the white berries in August and September. The fruit is white with small darker-colored hair-like growths. The fruit is edible and has an acidic taste.


Gaultheria hispidula grows in acidic and neutral soils in open woodland and forest verges, particularly on wet ground such as in or on the edge of bogs, often near tree stumps. Its original range spread from far northern Canada to as far south as North Carolina, but it has been extirpated from the southerly portions of its original range.


It is pollinated by solitary bees, bumblebees, bee-flies, and hoverflies, while chipmunks and deer mice spread the seed.


Like most plants in North America, deforestation and competition with invasive ornamentals (especially shade-loving groundcovers, such as English ivy or winter creeper commonly sold at garden centers) affect the creeping snowberry significantly. As a result, it has been extirpated from some of its original range and classified as rare in several states. Despite this, its international status has been evaluated as secure. This is because it is still quite common in its more northerly range of greater Canada. However, deforestation and exotic invasion are continuing problems that affect all forest species in both Canada and the United States.
It is listed as endangered in Maryland and New Jersey, as threatened in Rhode Island, as sensitive in Washington, as rare in Pennsylvania, as presumed extirpated in Ohio, and as a species of special concern in Connecticut.


The Algonquin people use an infusion of the leaves as a tonic for overeating. They also use the fruit as food. The Anticosti use it as a sedative, and the Micmac decoct the leaves or the whole plant for an unspecified purpose. The Ojibwa people use the leaves to make a beverage.
The leaves can be cooked as a vegetable. The fruits can be eaten raw, baked, or used to make jam.


Gaultheria procumbens, also called the eastern teaberry, the checkerberry, the boxberry, or the American wintergreen, is a species of Gaultheria native to northeastern North America from Newfoundland west to southeastern Manitoba, and south to Alabama. It is a member of the Ericaceae (heath family).


G. procumbens is a small, low-growing shrub, typically reaching 10–15 cm (4–6 in) tall. The leaves are evergreen, elliptic to ovate, 2–5 cm (3⁄4–2 in) long and 1–2 cm (1⁄2–3⁄4 in) broad, with a distinct oil of wintergreen scent.
The flowers are pendulous, with a white, sometimes pink-tinged, bell-shaped corolla with five teeth at the tip 8–10 mm (0.31–0.39 in) long, and above it a white calyx. They are borne in leaf axils, usually one to three per stem. The anthers are forked somewhat like a snake's tongue, with two awns at the tip.
The fruit is red and 6–9 mm (0.24–0.35 in) across. It is an epigynous berry, with the majority of the flesh of the fruit being composed of the fleshy calyx.
The plant is a calcifuge, favoring acidic soil, in pine or hardwood forests, although it generally produces fruit only in sunnier areas. It often grows as part of the heath complex in an oak–heath forest.
G. procumbens spreads by means of long rhizomes, which are within the top 2–3 cm (3⁄4–1+1⁄4 in) of soil. Because of the shallow nature of the rhizomes, it does not survive most forest fires, but a brief or mild fire may leave rhizomes intact, from which the plant can regrow even if the above-ground shrub was consumed.
This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.


The fruits of G. procumbens, considered its actual "teaberries", are edible, with a taste of mildly sweet wintergreen similar to the flavors of the Mentha varieties M. piperita (peppermint) and M. spicata (spearmint) even though G. procumbens is not a true mint. The leaves and branches make a fine herbal tea, through normal drying and infusion process. For the leaves to yield significant amounts of their essential oil, they need to be fermented for at least three days. The berries and leaves contain methyl salicylate, a compound that is closely related to aspirin.
Teaberry extract can be used to flavor tea, candy, medicine and chewing gum. Teaberry is also a flavor of ice cream in regions where the plant grows. It likewise inspired the name of Clark's Teaberry chewing gum.


Other common names for G. procumbens include American mountain tea, boxberry, Canada tea, canterberry, checkerberry, chickenberry, creeping wintergreen, deerberry, drunkards, gingerberry, ground berry, ground tea, grouseberry, hillberry, mountain tea, one-berry, procalm, red pollom, spice berry, squaw vine, star berry, spiceberry, spicy wintergreen, spring wintergreen, teaberry, wax cluster, and youngsters.
While this plant is sometimes mistakenly known as partridge berry, that name more often refers to the ground cover Mitchella repens.


The plant has been used by various tribes of Native Americans for medicinal purposes.


Gaultheria shallon is an evergreen shrub in the heather family (Ericaceae), native to western North America.  In English, it is known as salal, shallon, or (mainly in Britain) gaultheria.


Gaultheria shallon is .4 to 3.05 metres (1+1⁄2 to 10 feet) tall, sprawling to erect. It is loosely to densely branched and often forms dense, nearly impenetrable thickets. The twigs are reddish-brown, with shredding bark. Twigs can live up to 16 years or more, but bear leaves only the first few years.
Its evergreen leaves are dense, leathery, and tough, of egg-headed shape. They are shiny and dark green on the upper surface, and rough and lighter green on the lower. Each finely and sharply serrate leaf is 5 to 10 centimetres (2 to 4 inches) long. Each leaf generally lives for 2 to 4 years before it is replaced.
The inflorescence of flowers consists of a bracteate raceme, one-sided, with 5–15 flowers at the ends of branches. Each flower is composed of a deeply five-parted, glandular-haired calyx and an urn-shaped pink to white, glandular to hairy, five-lobed petals (corolla), 7 to 10 millimetres (1⁄4 to 3⁄8 in) long.
The fruit is reddish to blue, rough-surfaced, covered in tiny hairs, nearly spherical and 6 to 10 mm in diameter. The fruits are 'pseudoberries', or capsules made up of a fleshy outer calyx, and each fruit contains an average of 126 brown, reticulate seeds approximately 0.1 mm in length.


Lewis and Clark reported the local Chinook Jargon name of the omnipresent evergreen shrub to be shallon, shelwel, or shellwell, but when Scottish naturalist David Douglas arrived at Fort George in April 1825 he noted that it was not called shallon but  rather salal or sallal.
The genus Gaultheria was named by Pehr Kalm for his guide in Canada, fellow botanist Jean François Gaultier.


It is found in western Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon and along much of the California coast. It grows as far north as Baranof Island, Alaska. Western poison oak is a common associate in the California Coast Ranges.


The species was introduced to Britain in 1828 by David Douglas, who intended the plant to be used as an ornamental. It is believed to have been planted as cover for pheasants on shooting estates.


G. shallon grows in warm, moist to dry, montane to lowland coastal conifer forests as well as forested peatland and swamps throughout the Pacific Northwest. It is a common coniferous forest understory species and may dominate large areas with its spreading rhizomes. Individual plants may live for hundreds of years, spreading from their rhizomes. The plant is sensitive to frost.
It is tolerant of salt spray and grows well on stabilized dunes, exposed slopes, and bluffs near the ocean, as well as in coastal brushfields and coastal shore pine and Sitka spruce forests. Salal tolerates moderate shade and does well in sun.
It grows in a variety of soils but prefers moist sandy or peaty soils, and commonly establishes on decaying wood and stumps or as an epiphyte in extremely humid areas.
Conifer regeneration is typically better on sites dominated by salal than on sites dominated by the western swordfern or vine maple, although it still competes with conifer seedlings for water, nutrients, and space. There are mixed reports on its impact on Douglas-fir regrowth; on some sites it may hinder it, but on others it may add nutrients to the soil and actually increase conifer regeneration.


The leaves are browsed by deer and elk, and it is an important winter food for those species. Browse is heaviest when other low-growing species become covered in snow; in Western Washington salal leaves composed 30.4% of deer diet by volume in January, compared to only 0.5% in June. The leaves have relatively low nutritional value, and deer which feed exclusively on them have shown signs of malnutrition, cementing their status as a winter and emergency food for ungulates. Beavers and the white-footed vole are known to feed on salal leaves, as are domestic goats and sheep in some areas.
The band-tailed pigeon, wrentit, various species of grouse, and numerous songbirds consume the fruit, as do mammals such as the red squirrel, black bear, black-tailed deer, Townsend's chipmunk, and the Douglas squirrel.
Salal flowers are pollinated by hummingbirds, bees, and flies, and are browsed by deer.
It provides important cover and hiding places for a variety of species, from large ungulates to small birds and mammals.


Salal is adapted to a fire regime of infrequent fires, from intervals of 50 to 500+ years. Although aboveground portions of the plant may be consumed, rhizomes in the soil will survive and resprout after light to moderate fires. Severe fires on dry, shallow soil will penetrate into the roots and kill the plant.


It readily colonizes heathland and acidic woodland habitats in southern England, often forming very tall and dense evergreen stands which smother other vegetation.  Although heathland managers widely regard it as a problem weed on unmanaged heathland, it is readily browsed by cattle (especially in winter), so where traditional grazing management has been restored, the dense stands become broken up and the plant becomes a more scattered component of the heathland vegetation.
As an invasive species, salal is resistant to many herbicides because of its waxy foliage, although Garlon and Silvex can be effective when properly applied. Attempts at mechanical removal may break up rhizomes and stimulate new growth, thus increasing salal cover.


The dark blue berries and young leaves are edible and efficient appetite suppressants, both with a unique flavor. The berries were a significant food resource for some Native American tribes, who ate them fresh and dried them into cakes. They were also used as a sweetener, and the Haida used them to thicken salmon eggs. The leaves of the plant were also sometimes used to flavor fish soup.
More recently, the berries are used locally in jams, preserves, and pies. They are often combined with Oregon-grape because salal's mild sweetness partially masks the former's tartness.
Salal is widely cultivated as an ornamental both within and without its native range, useful for ground cover and landscaping.
In the Pacific Northwest, the harvesting of G. shallon is the heart of a large industry which supplies cut evergreens worldwide for use in floral arrangements.  It is used in native plant gardens and sold as "Lemon Leaf".


The species has been used for its medicinal properties by local natives for generations, although its medicinal uses are not widely known. The leaves have an astringent effect, making it an effective anti-inflammatory and anti-cramping herb. Leaves prepared in a tea or tincture are thought to decrease internal inflammation (such as bladder inflammation), stomach or duodenal ulcers, heartburn, indigestion, sinus inflammation, diarrhea, moderate fever, inflamed/irritated throat, and menstrual cramps. A poultice of the leaf can be used externally to ease discomfort from insect bites and stings.


The black-throated loon (Gavia arctica), also known as the Arctic loon and the black-throated diver, is a migratory aquatic bird found in the northern hemisphere, primarily breeding in freshwater lakes in northern Europe and Asia. It winters along sheltered, ice-free coasts of the north-east Atlantic Ocean and the eastern and western Pacific Ocean. This loon was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. It has two subspecies. It was previously considered to be the same species as the Pacific loon, of which it is traditionally considered to be a sister species, although this is debated. In a study that used mitochondrial and nuclear intron DNA, the black-throated loon was found to be sister to a clade consisting of the Pacific loon and two sister species, the common loon and the yellow-billed loon.
The black-throated loon measures about 70 cm (28 in) in length and can weigh anywhere from 1.3 to 3.4 kilograms (2.9 to 7.5 lb). In breeding plumage, the adult of the nominate subspecies has mostly black upperparts, with the exception of some of the mantle and scapulars, which have white squares. The head and hindneck are grey, and the sides white and striped black. Most of the throat is also black, giving this bird the name "black-throated loon". The colour of the throat patch can be used to distinguish the two subspecies; the throat patch of the other subspecies, G. a. viridigularis, is green. The underparts are mostly white, including the bottom of the throat. The flanks are also white, a feature which can be used to separate this bird from the Pacific loon. When it is not breeding, the black patch on the throat is absent, replaced with white; most of the black lines on the throat are also missing, except those on the bottom sides, and the upperparts are unpatterned with the exception of a few white spots on the upperwing. The juvenile is similar to the non-breeding adult, except more brown overall.
The timing of the breeding season is variable; in the southern part of its range, this loon starts breeding in April, whereas in the northern portion, it waits until after the spring thaw. It builds an oval-shaped nest that measures about 23 centimetres (9.1 in) across, either near the breeding lake or on vegetation emerging from it. The black-throated loon usually lays a clutch of two, rarely one or three, brown-green eggs with dark splotches. After an incubation period of 27 to 29 days, the chick hatches, and is fed a diet of small fish and invertebrates. This contrasts with the mostly fish diet of the adult. To catch this food, it forages by itself or in pairs, very rarely foraging in groups. It dives from the water, going no deeper than 5 metres (16 ft). Most dives are successful. Whether or not at least one chick will hatch from a nest is variable, ranging from 30% to 90%. Most failures come from predators and flooding. Overall, the population of this loon is declining, although the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) still rates it as least concern, because the population decline is not rapid enough. The black-throated loon is protected under both the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 and the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds.


The black-throated loon, Gavia arctica, was originally described by Carl Linnaeus as Colymbus arcticus in his 18th-century work, Systema Naturae. It was moved to the genus Gavia by the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) in 1897. The genus name Gavia comes from the Latin for "sea mew", as used by the ancient Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder. The specific arctica is Latin for "northern" or "Arctic". The name of the subspecies viridigularis stems from the Latin "viridis", meaning "green", and the Latin "gularis", meaning "throated", in reference to the green throat of this subspecies. The common name, black-throated loon, stems from its black throat patch. This loon is also called the Arctic loon and the black-throated diver.
There are two subspecies:
Gavia arctica arctica (Linnaeus, 1758) – This subspecies is found in northern Europe, east to the center of northern Asia, and from that to the Lena River and Transbaikal. It migrates to the coasts of northwestern Europe and the coasts of the Mediterranean, Black, and Caspian Seas.
G. a. viridigularis Dwight, 1918 – This subspecies is found in eastern Russia from the Lena River and Transbaikal east to the peninsulas of Chukotka and Kamchatka and the northern portion of Sakhalin. It migrates to the northwestern Pacific coasts.
G. a. viridigularis was considered to be a separate species when described by Jonathan Dwight in 1918, but a year after, in 1919, Arthur Cleveland Bent suggested that the former species be moved to its current placement as a subspecies. The black-throated loon was previously considered conspecific with the North American Pacific loon, which was its subspecies, but they have now been split into two species; there was no evidence of the two interbreeding in areas where they occurred together. Furthermore, the architecture of the air sacs in the lungs of the two species are significantly different. This split was done by the AOU in 1985. The phylogeny of this species is debated, the black-throated loon and the Pacific loon traditionally being considered sister species, whereas a study using mitochondrial and nuclear intron DNA supported placing the black-throated loon sister to a clade consisting of the Pacific loon and the two sister species that are the common loon and the yellow-billed loon. This latter study is criticized on the basis that it may form a phylogeny on incomplete lineage sorting. In the former phylogeny, the split between the Pacific loon and the black-throated loon is proposed to have happened about 6.5 million years ago.


The adult black-throated loon is 58 to 73 cm (23 to 29 in) in length with a 100 to 130 cm (39 to 51 in) wingspan and a weight of 1.3 to 3.4 kilograms (2.9 to 7.5 lb). The nominate subspecies in its breeding plumage has a grey head and hindneck, with a black throat and a large black patch on the foreneck, both of which have a soft purple gloss. The lower throat has a necklace-shaped patch of short parallel white lines. The sides of the throat have about five long parallel white lines that start at the side of the patch on the lower throat and run down to the chest, which also has a pattern of parallel white and black lines. The rest of the underparts, including the centre of the chest, are pure white. The upperparts are blackish down to the base of the wing, where there are a few rows of high contrast white squares that cover the mantle and scapulars. There are small white spots on both the lesser and median coverts. The rest of the upperwing is a blackish colour. The underwing is paler than the upperwing, and the underwing coverts are white. The tail is blackish. The bill and legs are black, with a pale grey colour on the inner half of the legs. The toes and the webs are grey, the latter also being flesh coloured. The irides are a deep brown-red. The sexes are alike, and the subspecies viridigularis is very similar to the nominate except that the former has a green throat patch, instead of black. The subspecies viridigularis does still retain a purplish gloss, although it is less than the nominate.
The non-breeding adult differs from the breeding adult in that the cap and the back of the neck are more brownish. The non-breeding adult also lacks the patterned upperparts of the breeding adult, although some of the upperwing coverts do not lose their white spots. This results in the upperparts being an almost unpatterned black from above. The sides of the throat are usually darker at the white border separating the sides of the throat and the front of the throat; most of the time a thin dark necklace between these two areas can be seen. There is white on the sides of the head that are below the eye. The bill is a steel-grey with, similar to the breeding adult, a blackish tip.
The juvenile is similar to the non-breeding adult, but has a browner appearance. It has a buffy scaling on the upperparts that is especially pronounced on the scapulars. The lower face and front of the neck has a diffused brownish tinge. The juvenile does not have the white spots on the wing coverts, and its irides are darker and more dull in colour. The chick hatches with down feathers that range in colour from sooty-brown to brownish-grey, usually with a slightly paler head. The abdomen is pale.
The black-throated loon can be distinguished from the Pacific loon by the white on the flanks of the former.


The male, when breeding, vocalizes a loud and rhythmic "oooéé-cu-cloooéé-cu-cloooéé-cu-cluuéé" whistling song. A "áááh-oo" wail can also be heard, and a growling or croaking "knarr-knor", a sound given especially at night. The alarm call at the nest is a rising "uweek".


The black-throated loon has a large range, breeding taking place across northern Europe, Asia, and the Seward Peninsula in Alaska. When breeding, it is found in the area around isolated, deep freshwater lakes larger than 0.1 square kilometres (0.039 sq mi), especially those with inlets, as it prefers to face only small stretches of open water. When it is not breeding, this loon moves in a general southward direction and towards ice-free sea, usually wintering in coasts on north-east Atlantic Ocean and those on the eastern and western Pacific Ocean, such as the coasts of Japan. During this time, its habitat is usually inshore waters along sheltered coasts, although it will sometimes be found inland, in places such as the Mediterranean and Black seas.


Like other loons, this bird takes off by pattering on a "runway" of water. While flying, it makes a barking "kwow" flight call.


This species usually nests on the ground within about 1 metre (3.3 ft) of the lake it breeds at. This loon also sometimes nests on vegetation, like Arctophila fulva, that have emerged from lakes. The nest site is often reused the next year. The nest itself is oval-shaped and built mostly by the female out of heaped plant material like leaves and sticks. The nest measures about 23 centimetres (9.1 in) across. Families of black-throated loons often move their nest site from the original nest ponds they inhabited to wetlands nearby after the chicks reach two weeks of age. The journey is generally less than 150 metres (490 ft).
In the southern portion of its range, this loon starts to breed in April, whereas in the northern parts of its range, it waits until the spring thaw, when there is adequate water for it to take off in. It usually arrives before the lake thaws, in the latter case.
Before copulation, the female hunches its neck and swims close to the shore until it finds a suitable place and then lies down on the shore. The male sometimes adopts the same posture as the female. During this time, the only vocalization made is a one note "hum". During copulation, the male, coming ashore, mounts the female and occasionally flaps its wings loudly. After this, the male returns to the water and preens itself. The female stays ashore for a maximum of about 23 minutes and usually starts to build the nest.
The black-throated loon lays a clutch of two, very rarely one or three, 76 by 47 millimetres (3.0 by 1.9 in) eggs that are brown-green with darker speckles. These eggs are incubated by both parents for a period of 27 to 29 days, with the female spending the most time out of the sexes incubating. During incubation, this bird turns its eggs. The interval between when they are turned is very irregular, ranging from one minute to about six hours. After they hatch, the mobile young are fed by both parents for a period of weeks. The chicks fledge about 60 to 65 days after hatching, and achieve sexual maturity after two to three years.
Nesting success, whether or not at least one chick will hatch from any given nest, is variable year to year, the rate of success ranging from just under 30% to just more than 90%. For clutches of two eggs, the average nesting success is about 50%, whereas in clutches with only one egg, this rate is about 60%. The nesting success is influenced most by first, predation, and second, flooding. Some of the adults that lose their clutch early in the incubation period renest. Most of the time, only one chick survives to fledge, the other dying within seven days of hatching. In Scotland, a study concluded that a single pair usually fledges a chick, on average, 25% of the time per year. This can be increased, although, by artificial means, such as constructing rafts for loons to nest on. Whether or not there is at least one chick fledged is influenced by the density of fish in the breeding lake; a lake with a higher density of fish usually reduces the chance that a pair will fledge a chick, even though this loon feeds mainly on fish. There are two factors that might contribute to this; the first being that aquatic insects, an alternative food source for chicks, are more dense when there are less fish, and the second being that a higher density of fish means more northern pike, a predator of small chicks.


A top predator in the pelagic zone of some subarctic lakes, this bird feeds on fish and sometimes insects, molluscs, crustaceans, and plant matter. The black-throated loon usually forages by itself or in pairs, rarely feeding in groups with multiple species. It dives from the water, at depths of no more than 5 metres (16 ft). Just before diving, this loon stretches and holds up its neck until it is erect and at full length. It usually jumps slightly upwards before diving. These dives are frequent, with an average of about 1.6 dives per minute. Most dives, about 80% of them, are successful, and those that are successful are usually shorter than those that are unsuccessful, with an average of 17 seconds for each successful dive, and 27 seconds for each unsuccessful dive. These dives usually only result in small items, and those that yield larger pieces of food are usually more than 40 seconds, where this bird catches quick-swimming fish.
When it is breeding, the adult usually feeds away from the nest, foraging either at the opposite end of the breeding or at lakes near the breeding lake. When foraging for newly hatched chicks, the adult forages in the lake where the nest is or in nearby lakes, returning after a prey item has been caught. When the chicks are older, they usually accompany both of the parents, swimming a few metres behind them. The strategy that predominates immediately after hatching is generally still employed when the chicks are older, but at a reduced rate. The chicks are fed only one item of prey at a time. The young are also able to capture food themselves at least 36 days after hatching, although they are still fed daily up until about 70 days of age.
The diet of black-throated loon chicks varies, the prey in the breeding lake being a major factor. For the first eight days, chicks are usually fed three-spined sticklebacks and common minnows if they are found in the breeding lake. If they are not present, then the chicks are brought up mainly on small invertebrates until about eight days, when they are able to take trout of about 100 millimetres (3.9 in) in length. Although in these chicks trout makes up the majority of their diet, they are still fed invertebrates in large numbers. In all lakes, salmonids make up an important part of the chicks' diet after eight days. Salmonids, especially those between 100 and 240 millimetres (3.9 and 9.4 in), are important in the diets of older chicks. Eels are also an important food for older chicks.


The black-throated loon is sometimes parasitized by Eustrongylides tubifex, a species of nematode that can cause Eustrongylidosis. Mammalian predators, such as red foxes and pine martens, are likely the cause of about 40% of clutch losses. Avian predators, such as hooded crows, also take the eggs of this loon.


Despite the fact that its population is declining, the black-throated loon is listed as a species of least concern by the IUCN. This is because the species has a large population and an extremely large range, and its decline does not appear to be rapid. In North America, it is protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, while in Europe and Africa, it is protected under the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds.


Acidification and heavy-metal pollution of the breeding lake possibly threatens this bird. It is also vulnerable to oil pollution, especially when near fishing grounds. Fishing nets are also a cause of mortality. This loon is sensitive to windfarms near the coast. Overall, the annual mortality rate of the adult black-throated loon is 10%.


The red-throated loon (North America) or red-throated diver (Britain and Ireland) (Gavia stellata) is a migratory aquatic bird found in the northern hemisphere. The most widely distributed member of the loon or diver family, it breeds primarily in Arctic regions, and winters in northern coastal waters. Ranging from 55 to 67 centimetres (22 to 26 in) in length, the red-throated loon is the smallest and lightest of the world's loons. In winter, it is a nondescript bird, greyish above fading to white below. During the breeding season, it acquires the distinctive reddish throat patch which is the basis for its common name. Fish form the bulk of its diet, though amphibians, invertebrates, and plant material are sometimes eaten as well. A monogamous species, red-throated loons form long-term pair bonds. Both members of the pair help to build the nest, incubate the eggs (generally two per clutch), and feed the hatched young.
The red-throated loon has a large global population and a significant global range, though some populations are declining. Oil spills, habitat degradation, pollution, and fishing nets are among the major threats this species faces. Natural predators—including various gull species, and both red and Arctic foxes, will take eggs and young. The species is protected by international treaties.


First described by Danish naturalist Erik Pontoppidan in 1763, the red-throated loon is a monotypic species with no distinctive subspecies despite its large Holarctic range. Pontoppidan initially placed the species in the now-defunct genus Colymbus, which contained grebes as well as loons. By 1788, German naturalist Johann Reinhold Forster realized that grebes and loons were different enough to warrant separate genera, and moved the red-throated loon (along with all other loon species) to its present genus. Its relationship to the four other loons is complex; although all belong to the same genus, it differs from the others in terms of morphology, behaviour, ecology and breeding biology and may be the basal lineage of the genus. It is thought to have evolved in the Palearctic, and then to have expanded into the Nearctic. Analysis of molecular data together with the fossil record suggests the lineage of the red-throated loon diverged from that giving rise to the other loon species around 21.4 million years ago in the Miocene, and that it may be most closely related to the fossil Pliocene species Gavia howardae.
The genus name Gavia comes from the Latin for "sea mew", as used by ancient Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder. The specific epithet stellata is Latin for "set with stars" or "starry", and refers to the bird's speckled back in its non-breeding plumage. Members of the family Gavidae are known as loons in North America and divers in Great Britain and Ireland. The International Ornithological Congress uses the name red-throated loon for this species. "Diver" refers to the family's underwater method of hunting for prey, while "red-throated" is a straightforward reference to the bird's most distinctive breeding plumage feature. The word "loon" is thought to have derived from the Swedish lom, the Old Norse or Icelandic lómr, or the Old Dutch loen, all of which mean "lame" or "clumsy", and is a probable reference to the difficulty that all loons have in moving about on land. A local name from Willapa Harbor, Washington, was Quaker loon.


Like the other members of its genus, the red-throated loon is well adapted to its aquatic environment: its dense bones help it to submerge, its legs—in their set-back position—provide excellent propulsion, and its body is long and streamlined. Even its sharply pointed bill may help its underwater streamlining. Its feet are large, its front three toes are fully webbed, and its tarsus is flattened, which reduces drag and allows the leg to move easily through the water.
The red-throated loon is the smallest and lightest of the world's loon species, ranging from 53 to 69 cm (21 to 27 in) in length with a 91–120 cm (36–47 in) wingspan, and weighing 1–2.7 kg (2.2–6.0 lb). Like all loons, it is long-bodied and short-necked, with its legs set far back on its body. The sexes are similar in appearance, although males tend to be slightly larger and heavier than females. In breeding plumage, the adult has a dark grey head and neck (with narrow black and white stripes on the back of the neck), a triangular red throat patch, white underparts, and a dark grey-brown mantle. It is the only loon with an all-dark back in breeding plumage. The non-breeding plumage is drabber with the chin, foreneck, and much of the face white, the top of the head and back of the neck grey, and considerable white speckling on the dark mantle. Its iris is carmine-red to burgundy in color, its legs are black on the outer half and pale on the inner half, and the webs of its feet are pinkish-brown, with darker margins.
Its bill is thin, straight, and sharp, and often held at an uptilted angle. One of the bird's North American folk names is pegging-awl loon, a reference to its sharply pointed bill, which resembles a sailmaker's awl (a tool also known as a "pegging awl" in New England). Though the colour of the bill changes from black in summer to pale grey in winter, the timing of the colour change does not necessarily correspond to that of the bird's overall plumage change. The nostrils are narrow slits located near the base of the bill.
When it first emerges from its egg, the young red-throated loon is covered with fine soft down feathers. Primarily dark brown to dark grey above, it is slightly paler on the sides of its head and neck, as well as on its throat, chest, and flanks, with a pale grey lower breast and belly. Within weeks, this first down is replaced by a second, paler set of down feathers, which are in turn replaced by developing juvenile feathers. The juvenile's plumage is similar to that of the adult, though with a few distinguishing features. It has a darker forehead and neck, with heavy speckling on the sides of the neck and the throat. Its back is browner and less speckled, and its underparts are tinged with brown. Its eyes are reddish-brown, and its beak is a pale grey. Though some young birds hold this plumage until mid-winter, many quickly become virtually indistinguishable from adults, except for their paler bills.
In flight, the red-throated loon has a distinctive profile; its small feet do not project far past the end of its body, its head and neck droop below the horizontal (giving the flying bird a distinctly hunchbacked shape) and its thin wings are angled back. It has a quicker, deeper wingbeat than do other loons.


The adult red-throated loon has a number of vocalisations, which are used in different circumstances. In flight, when passing conspecifics or circling its own pond, it gives a series of rapid yet rhythmic goose-like cackles—kaa-kaa-kaa or kak-kak-kak, at roughly five calls per second. Its warning call, if disturbed by humans or onshore predators, is a short croaking bark. A low-pitched moaning call, used primarily as a contact call between mates and between parents and young, but also during copulation, is made with the bill closed. The species also has a short wailing call—aarOOao...aarOOao...—which descends slightly in pitch and lasts about a second; due to strong harmonics surrounding the primary pitch, this meowing call is more musical than its other calls. Another call—a harsh, pulsed cooing that rises and falls in pitch, and is typically repeated up to 10 times in a row—is used in territorial encounters and pair-bonding, and by parent birds encouraging their young to move on land between bodies of water. Known as the "long call", it is often given in duet, which is unusual among the loons; the female's contribution is longer and softer than her mate's.
Young have a shrill closed-bill call, which they use in begging and to contact their parents. They also have a long call used in response to (and similar to that of) the long call of adults.


At medium to close range, an adult red-throated loon in either breeding or non-breeding plumage is usually easily recognised. However, in certain light conditions, at certain times in its moulting cycle, or at greater distances, it may be mistaken for another species—most commonly the black-throated loon, but also occasionally the great crested grebe. It shows more white on the head and neck than does the black-throated loon, and—provided it is not sitting low in the water—tends to show more white on the flanks as well. If it is sitting lower in the water, so that the white on the flanks is reduced to a patch on the rear flank (thus resembling the pattern of the black-throated loon), that patch tends to be less clearly defined than the comparative patch on the black-throated.


The red-throated loon breeds primarily in the Arctic regions of northern Eurasia and North America (generally north of 50°N latitude), and winters in northern coastal waters, sometimes in groups of considerable size. More than 4,400 spend the winter in a loose concentration on the eastern part of the German Bight, for example. Unlike other loons, it regularly uses very small freshwater lakes as breeding sites. Its small size renders it more versatile, but it is less able to feed on deeper prey. The increase in size and diversity of the remaining species of loons suggests that the benefits of larger size outweigh the limitations.
In North America, it winters regularly along both coasts, ranging as far south as the Baja California Peninsula and the Gulf of California in north-western Mexico; it has been recorded as a vagrant in the interior Mexican state of Hidalgo. Some of its folk names in north-eastern North America—including cape race, cape brace, cape drake and cape racer, as well as corruptions such as scapegrace—originated from its abundance around Cape Race, Newfoundland. In Europe, it breeds in Iceland, northern Scotland, north-western Ireland (only a few pairs), Scandinavia and northern Russia, and winters along the coast as far south as parts of Spain; it also regularly occurs along major inland waterways, including the Mediterranean, Aegean and Black Seas, as well as large rivers, lakes and reservoirs. It has occurred as a vagrant as far south as Morocco, Tunisia and the Gambia. In Asia, it breeds in the northern stretches of Siberia, and winters along the Pacific coast as far south as China, Japan and Taiwan. It has occurred as a vagrant in Mongolia.


Because its feet are located so far back on its body, the red-throated loon is quite clumsy walking on land, but it can use its feet to shove itself forward on its breast. Young use this method of covering ground when moving from their breeding pools to larger bodies of water, including rivers and the sea. It is the only species of loon able to take off directly from land. If frightened, it may submerge until only its head or bill shows above the surface of the water.
The red-throated loon is a diurnal migrant, which travels singly or in loose groups, often high above the water. In eastern North America (and possibly elsewhere), it tends to migrate near the coast rather than farther offshore; Siberian populations travel for hundreds of miles over land en route to their southern European wintering grounds. It is a strong flier, and has been clocked at speeds between 75 and 78 kilometres per hour (47 and 48 mph). Like all members of its family, the red-throated loon goes through a simultaneous wing moult, losing all its flight feathers at once and becoming flightless for a period of three to four weeks. Unlike other loons—which undergo this moult in late winter—the red-throated loon loses its ability to fly sometime between late summer and late autumn.


Like all members of its family, the red-throated loon is primarily a fish-eater, though it sometimes feeds on molluscs, crustaceans, frogs, aquatic invertebrates, insects, fish spawn or even plant material. It seizes rather than spears its prey, which is generally captured underwater. Though it normally dives and swims using only its feet for propulsion, it may use its wings as well if it needs to turn or accelerate quickly. Pursuit dives range from 2–9 m (6.6–29.5 ft) in depth, with an average underwater time of about a minute. Its fish diet increases the red-throated loon's vulnerability to persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals, both of which bioaccumulate, thus potentially causing greater problems for long-lived species (such as the loon) at or near the top of the food chain. Its main diet has also led to several of the loon's British folk names, including "sprat borer" and "spratoon".
For the first few days after hatching, young red-throated loons are fed aquatic insects and small crustaceans by both parents. After 3–4 days, the parents switch to fish small enough for the young birds to swallow whole. By four weeks of age, the young can eat the same food—of the same size—as their parents do. Young birds may be fed for some time after fledging; adults have been seen feeding fish to juveniles at sea and on inland lakes in the United Kingdom, hundreds of kilometres from any breeding areas.


The red-throated loon is a monogamous species which forms long-term pair bonds. Both sexes build the nest, which is a shallow scrape (or occasionally a platform of mud and vegetation) lined with vegetation and sometimes a few feathers, and placed within a half-metre (18 in) of the edge of a small pond. The female lays two eggs (though clutches of one and three have also been recorded); they are incubated for 24–29 days, primarily by the female. The eggs, which are greenish or olive-brownish spotted with black, measure 75 mm × 46 mm (3.0 in × 1.8 in) and have a mass of 83 g (2.9 oz), of which 8% is shell. Incubation is begun as soon as the first egg is laid, so they hatch asynchronously. If a clutch is lost (to predation or flooding, for example) before the young hatch, the red-throated loon usually lays a second clutch, generally in a new nest. The young birds are precocial: upon hatching, they are downy and mobile, with open eyes. Both parents feed them small aquatic invertebrates initially, then small fish for 38–48 days. Parents will perform distraction displays to lure predators away from the nest and young. Ornithologists disagree as to whether adults carry young on their backs while swimming with some maintaining that they do and others the opposite.
In the wild, the oldest known red-throated loon lived for more than two decades. It was found, oiled and dead, on a beach in Sweden 23 years and 7 months after it had been ringed (banded).


Although the red-throated loon is not a globally threatened species, as it has a large population and a significant range, there are populations which appear to be declining. Numbers counted in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service surveys in Alaska show a 53% population decline between 1971 and 1993, for example, and survey count numbers have dropped in continental Europe as well. In Scotland, on the other hand, the population increased by some 16% between 1994 and 2006, according to surveys done by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Scottish Natural Heritage. In 2002, Wetlands International estimated a global population of 490,000 to 1,500,000 individuals; global population trends have not been quantified.
The red-throated loon is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies; in the Americas, it is protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. Oil spills, habitat degradation, and fishing nets are among the main threats this species faces. Because it tends to migrate close to shore—generally within 20 kilometres (12 mi) of land—it may be detrimentally affected by the construction of near-shore wind farms; studies indicate a high level of avoidance of wind farm areas, though deaths due to direct strikes with the turbines appear to be uncommon. High levels of mercury in the environment have led to reproductive failures in some areas, including parts of Sweden. Studies in Sweden have also shown that they may be adversely impacted by the acidification of lakes, as the fish on which they prey are susceptible to low pH.  On the breeding grounds, Arctic and red foxes are major predators of eggs, while great skuas, Arctic skuas and various species of Larus gulls (including great black-backed gulls and glaucous gulls) are predators of both eggs and young.
The species is known to serve as host for at least 51 species of parasites, most of which are roundworms (nematodes), flatworms (digeneans) and tapeworms (cestodes) carried internally; a single species of louse is its only known external parasite. It is also known to sometimes carry significant populations of diatoms (microscopic phytoplankton) on its contour feathers. The red-throated loon is susceptible to avian influenza and Type E botulism, and is regularly killed by the ingestion of neurotoxins produced by "red tide" algal blooms. During a 2007 bloom, large numbers of the birds also died of hypothermia, after their plumages became matted by a protein byproduct of the algae, which reduced the insulating properties of their feathers.


Used as a food source since prehistoric times, the red-throated loon is still hunted by indigenous peoples in some parts of the world today. Eggs as well as birds are taken, sometimes in significant numbers; during one study on northern Canada's Igloolik Island, 73% of all red-throated loon eggs laid within the 10 km² (3.9 mi²) study site over two breeding seasons were collected by indigenous inhabitants of the island. In some parts of Russia, red-throated loon skins were traditionally used to make caps and various clothing decorations, including collars. The species was also central to the creation mythologies of indigenous groups throughout the Holarctic. According to the myth—which varies only slightly between versions, despite the sometimes-vast distances that separated the groups who believed it—the loon was asked by a great shaman to bring up earth from the bottom of the sea. That earth was then used to build the world's dry land.
As recently as the 1800s, the behaviour of the red-throated loon was used to forecast the weather; according to the conventional wisdom of the time, birds flying inland or giving short cries predicted good weather, while those flying out to sea or giving long, wailing cries predicted rain. In the Orkney and Shetland islands of Scotland, the species is still known as the "rain goose" in deference to its supposed weather-predicting capabilities. The people of the Faroe Islands believed that if the red-throated loon miaowed like a cat, then rain was imminent, while a call of gaa-gaa-gaa or turkatrae-turkatrae predicted fine weather.
Bhutan, Japan, Åland (an autonomous region of Finland), and the Union of the Comoros have issued stamps featuring the red-throated loon.


Gelastocoris oculatus, the big-eyed toad bug, is a species of toad bug in the family Gelastocoridae. It is found in Central America and North America.


Geniostoma ligustrifolium, commonly known as hangehange, is a species of plant in the Loganiaceae family (syn., Geniostoma rupestre var. ligustrifolium). It is endemic to New Zealand, where it is found on the North Island, and in Marlborough at the northern tip of the South Island. Other common names are pāpā and privet leaf. A shrub common on forest margins, to 4 metres (13 ft) tall. It is popular as a garden specimen.


Genista monspessulana, commonly known as French broom, Montpellier broom, or Cape broom (Australia), is a woody leguminous perennial shrub. The yellow-flowering bush is native to the Mediterranean region, and while it may still be commonly sold in some garden stores, it is considered an invasive plant in most places where it has been introduced. It is a noxious weed on the western coast of the US and in parts of Australia.


G. monspessulana grows to 1–2.5 metres (3+1⁄2–8 feet) tall, with slender green branches. The stems are not ridged or green. The leaves are evergreen, trifoliate with three narrow obovate leaflets, 1–2 centimetres (1⁄2–3⁄4 inch) long. The flowers are yellow, grouped 3–9 together in short racemes. Like other legumes, it develops its seeds within a pod. The pods are 2–3 cm (3⁄4–1+1⁄4 in) long, tough and hard, covered all over with hairs, and are transported easily by flowing water and animals. They burst open with force, dispersing the seeds several metres. The plant begins seed production once it reaches a height of approximately 40 cm (16 in), and each plant can live for 10–20 years. One mature plant can produce 10,000 seeds per season. The generous seed production and the plant's ability to re-sprout after cutting or burning help it to invade new habitat vigorously when introduced.
It is related to the common broom and Spanish broom.


G. monspessulana and related plants are common in European shrublands. French broom was originally distributed throughout Mediterranean Europe and northwest Africa, the Azores, and the Canary Islands. Due to its lower tolerance for frost than other broom species, it is common in warmer, lower elevation areas. It is found on coastal strips and in sunny inland areas, and does best with plentiful rainfall and sandy soils.


When introduced to a new area, French broom can become an invasive plant. Its reproductive vigour and preference for Mediterranean climates make it a very successful species in California and the Pacific Northwest, where it is considered a severe noxious weed, covering over 40 kilohectares. It is even more widespread in Australia, where it covers 600,000 hectares and is also considered a noxious weed.
The plant often outcompetes native vegetation, forming dense fields where other species are almost completely crowded out. Stands of French broom can be so thick that they make meadows and pastures useless for wild and domestic animals. It can also shade out tree seedlings in reforested areas and tends to catch fire.


The leaves and seeds contain alkaloids which are poisonous to many large domestic animals.


Gentiana acaulis, the stemless gentian, or trumpet gentian, is a species of flowering plant in the family Gentianaceae, native to central and southern Europe, from Spain east to the Balkans, growing especially in mountainous regions, such as the Alps and Pyrenees, at heights of 800–3,000 m (2,625–9,843 ft).


It is a perennial plant, growing up to a height of 10 centimetres (3.9 in) tall and forming a mat up to 50 centimetres (20 in) wide. The leaves, which can be lanceolate, elliptical or obovate, are evergreen, 2–3.5 cm long, in a basal rosette, forming clumps. The trumpet-shaped terminal flowers are blue with olive-green spotted longitudinal throats. They grow on a very short peduncle, 3–6 cm long. The flower stem is often without leaves, or has 1 or 2 pairs of leaves. It likes full sun, is fully hardy and flowers in late spring and summer.


This plant, like others of its genus, is valued in cultivation for the unusually pure intense blue of its blooms. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.


The closely related Gentiana clusii, often called by the same common name as this species, differs in its preference for limy (alkaline) soils. It also has shorter leaves and the flowers have no olive-green stripes.


Gentiana alba (called plain, pale, white, cream, or yellow gentian) is a herbaceous species of flowering plant in the Gentian family Gentianaceae, producing yellowish-white colored flowers from thick white taproots.  It is native to North America from Manitoba through Ontario in the north, south to Oklahoma, Arkansas and North Carolina, and it is listed as rare, endangered, threatened or extirpated in parts of this range.
This species resembles bottle gentian (Gentiana andrewsii), which has blue flowers and a less upright habit, and shares much of the same range. Gentiana alba starts to bloom a few weeks earlier than bottle gentian and the flowers are more open at the tops. Gentiana alba can also hybridize with Gentiana andrewsii, producing upright growing plants having white flowers with blue edges.
Synonyms include Gentiana flavida A. Gray


The herbaceous perennial plant Gentiana calycosa is a species of gentian known by the common names Rainier pleated gentian and mountain bog gentian.


It is native to the mid-elevation mountains of the western United States and Canada from the Sierra Nevada of California to the Canadian Cascades.


The flower of Gentiana calycosa is a funnel-shaped cup opening into a five-petaled face 3 to 5 centimeters (1.2 to 2.0 in) wide, in shades of deep blue to purple. The plant has hardy, thick green leaves on the thin red stems from which the flowers are borne.
Like other gentians, G. calycosa is an attractive mountain wildflower good for use in alpine gardens.


Gentiana cruciata, the star gentian or cross gentian, is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the Gentianaceae family.


Gentiana cruciata is a hemicryptophyte scapose plant of small size, reaching on average 20–40 centimetres (7.9–15.7 in) in height. It has erect stems, the leaves are large, ovate-lanceolate, semiamplexicaul, about 3–8 centimetres (1.2–3.1 in) long. The flowers are violet-blue trumpets with 4 petals, clustered in the axils of upper leaves. The flowering period extends from June to August. The flowers are hermaphrodite and pollinated by insects (entomogamy). The fruit is a capsule. The seeds are dispersed by gravity alone (barochory).


Gentiana cruciata is widespread in most of Europe (except Portugal, Great Britain and Scandinavia) and in Western Asia.


This plant prefers dry calcareous soil in forest edges, bushy slopes, pastures, grasslands and dry meadows, at an altitude of  200–1,600 metres (660–5,250 ft) above sea level.


Phengaris rebeli is an endangered butterfly which feeds upon G. cruciata. Female P. rebeli lay their eggs on the upper side of G. cruciata leaves and three to four weeks later, the P. rebeli larvae emerge and begin to feed on the seeds and flowers of this grassland plant. After the P. rebeli reaches its fourth larval instar, it drops to the ground to be picked up by Myrmica schencki ants and brought to their nests.
Female P. rebeli prefer to lay eggs on G. cruciata growing in clumps rather than individual plants, and on the taller plants, as they are less shaded and allow the eggs to grow and develop faster.


According to Hungarian legend, a pestilence spread throughout the kingdom during King Ladislaus's reign. Ladislaus prayed for a cure; he then shot an arrow into the air at random, hitting a star gentian plant which cured the illness. This plant became known as "Saint Ladislaus's herb" in Hungary.


Gentiana pneumonanthe, the marsh gentian, is a species of the genus Gentiana. It was the first wildflower announced as flower of the year in Germany in 1980. The species can be found in marshes and moorlands. It is the host-plant of the Alcon blue (Phengaris alcon).


Gentiana sedifolia is a species of plant in the family Gentianaceae. It can be found from Costa Rica to northern Chile.


Small herbs with narrow, opposite leaves; leaves up to 0.7 cm long. Small funnel shaped flowers up to 1 cm in diameter, pale blue or violet, with a yellow, white or pale yellow center. Flowers close at night or during cold and cloudy days.


Bogs at high elevation grasslands (puna and páramo), from Costa Rica to northern Chile. It is present at protected areas such as Cajas National Park, Huascarán National Park and Junín National Reserve.


Gentiana verna, the spring gentian, is a species of flowering plant in the family Gentianaceae, and one of its smallest members, normally only growing to a height of a few centimetres.
The short stem supports up to three opposing pairs of elliptical or lanceolate leaves. The conspicuous vivid blue (sometimes purplish-red or rarely white) flowers are 1–2 cm in diameter, with a deeply five-lobed corolla; they are produced in late spring to early summer. The flowers attract butterflies and bees (particularly bumblebees) for pollination. Ants are responsible for the spreading of its seeds.


G. verna is one of the most widespread gentians, found on sunny alpine meadows throughout Eurasia, from Ireland to Russia. It is common in central and southeastern Europe, such as in low mountain ranges like the Jura and Balkans, and up to an altitude of 2,600 m (8,500 ft). It is also to be found in mountainous regions ranging from the High Atlas of Morocco to the mountains of Turkey, Iraq and Iran. In northern Europe, it is very rare, confined to Teesdale in northern England and a handful of locations in western Ireland. It tends to thrive on dry meadows with chalky soil; it is also known to grow in silicaceous soils. Its scarcity has led to protection in a number of European countries as an endangered species.


It is the county flower of Durham in the United Kingdom. It was first found in Britain by the botanist John Harriman.
A drawing of Gentiana verna by Holly Somerville is the logo for the botany department in Trinity College Dublin.
Gentiana verna appeared on the design of a Great Britain stamp, issued in 1964 to mark the 10th International Botanical Congress held in Edinburgh.
Writer and botanist Stevan Jakovljević eulogized the flower in its Latin name at the end of his trilogy Srpska trilogija which writes of the Serbian soldiers who died during the Battle of Kajmakčalan and the Macedonian front during World War I (the flower grows on the soldiers' graves in the mountains of Kajmakčalan).
The flower is associated with the Alps, and gave its name to the trans-Alpine Blauer Enzian ("Blue Gentian") express train between Germany and Austria.


Gentianopsis crinita (sometimes called greater fringed gentian or blue gentian) is a biennial herbaceous species, native to eastern USA and eastern Canada. The flowers of fringed gentian open on sunny days, but generally remain closed on cloudy days. Individual plants live for only one or two years; the plant is noted as having become relatively rare. It grows in moist, limey woods, meadows, and stream banks.
In autumn, solitary, iridescent blue flowers develop on naked peduncles approximately 2 to 10 cm (3⁄4 to 4 in) in height. Each finely fringed petal is 3.5 to 6 cm (1+3⁄8 to 2+3⁄8 in) in length. The outermost flower parts are two pairs of green sepals, strongly winged and flared on the basal margins, the outer pair much larger than the inner.
It is closely related to Gentianopsis virgata (Raf.) Holub, which is sometimes lumped within a broadly transcribed G. crinita.
According to ancient Roman naturalist Pliny, King Gentius of Illyria found that the roots were useful as an emetic, cathartic, and tonic. From him, the plant's name is derived.


The large emerald (Geometra papilionaria) is a moth which is the type species for the family Geometridae. It is found throughout the Palearctic region and the Near East in and around deciduous forests, heathlands, marshland and in settlements close to woodland.  The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.


The bar-shouldered dove (Geopelia humeralis) is a species of long tailed dove native to Australia and Southern New Guinea. It is protected under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974. It is a medium-sized pigeon varying in size from 26–30 cm (10–12 in). Its voice is a distinctive and melodious "cook-a-wook" or "coolicoo".


The dove has a blue-grey breast with chequered brown-bronze wings. The nape is similar to that of the peaceful dove in that the nape feathers are striated but differs in that the bar-shouldered dove does not have striated throat feathers like the peaceful dove. Furthermore, the nape feathers are copper in colour. These doves are also often confused with the introduced and common spotted turtle dove. The eye ring tends to be grey but red-brown when breeding. The juveniles are duller in colour.
Doves are often found in pairs, groups or large loose flocks and are seen commonly feeding on the ground feeding on seeds. Flight is direct and swift and wings whistle while the birds are in flight.


Bar-shouldered doves are usually found in thick vegetation where water is present, damp gullies, forests and gorges, mangroves, plantations, swamps, eucalyptus woodlands, tropical and sub-tropical scrubs and river margins. They can be found in both inland and coastal regions. The bar-shouldered dove is found throughout the east coast from southern New South Wales (with increasing numbers in the Blue Mountains and Illawarra regions), north to Cape York Peninsula and west to the Pilbara region (about Onslow, Western Australia). They have been observed with increasing frequency in southern Australia (specifically north-western Victoria) but may have been displaced in other natural locations by introduced species. They have also been observed in the Torres Strait and are also found in other countries of the South Pacific region, such as Papua New Guinea.


Breeding season is from September to January in the south and February to April in the north. Its nest is a flat twig and grass platform usually in trees and shrubs, mangrove or scrub.  The dove will lay two, white, glossy and rounded eggs.


A bar-shouldered dove was found to be infected by Toxoplasma gondii, the agent of toxoplasmosis, in a French zoo.


The peaceful dove (Geopelia placida) is a pigeon native to Australia and New Guinea. The peaceful dove is closely related to the zebra dove of south-east Asia and the barred dove of eastern Indonesia. Until recently, the three were classed as a single species, Geopelia striata, known as peaceful dove or zebra dove.


The bird is a relatively small pigeon and varies in length from 19 to 21 centimetres (7.6 to 8.4 inches). The peaceful dove has a pink-grey breast with chequered grey-brown wings. Thin striations of black appear around the neck and nape area and descend down the back.  The eye is greyish-white and a blue-grey ring surrounds the eye that tapers off and joins the beak/cere.  The juveniles are paler and less striated.  They also have a duller eye ring.  The nape is similar to that of the bar-shouldered dove in that the nape feathers are striated but differs in that the bar-shouldered dove does not have striated throat feathers like the peaceful dove. Furthermore, the nape feathers are grey-brown in colour compared to the vivid copper colour seen with bar-shouldered doves.
Calls of the peaceful dove are high-pitched "doodle-doo", "co-co-coo" and "croorrr!".


The peaceful dove is found in pairs, groups and flocks.  They feed off the ground and are found commonly in streets and gardens.  They also are found in scrublands, woodlands, watercourses, railyards and on the edge of rainforests. When not found on the ground feeding, they can be found in trees roosting.
The doves fly in a rapid, undulating motion. The wings make a flushing "frrr" noise when the birds are in flight.


Breeding occurs from October to January in southern Australia and from March to June in northern Australia.  Nests are built on horizontal branches of trees. Two white eggs are laid. The doves are very aggressive to other birds when breeding.


The Kentucky warbler (Geothlypis formosa) is a small species of New World warbler. It is a sluggish and heavy warbler with a short tail, preferring to spend most of its time on or near the ground, except when singing.


Adult Kentucky warblers are mostly an olive-green in color on their back and nape, and a brilliant yellow below from their throat to their belly. They have a small tinge of black on their crown, and a large black mask with a yellow pattern that runs from the beak and encircles the eyes, resembling a pair of spectacles. Female Kentucky warblers have slightly less black on the sides of their head, and immature birds may have almost no black at all.
Measurements:
Length: 5.1 in (13 cm)
Weight: 0.5-0.5 oz (13-14 g)
Wingspan: 7.9-8.7 in (20-22 cm)


The Kentucky warbler is a scarce bird with a large range, frequenting moist deciduous forests. It is migratory, spending summer in the central and eastern United States, often ranging as far north as Wisconsin to Pennsylvania. Come fall and winter the Kentucky warbler will migrate back to the Yucatán Peninsula and the many islands of the Caribbean, flying non-stop across the Gulf of Mexico. In 2007, the Kentucky warbler was seen as far west as Farmington, New Mexico.


Kentucky warblers nest on the ground hidden at the base of a shrub or in a patch of weeds in an area of ample vegetation. The female will lay between 3 and 6 eggs, which are white or cream-colored and speckled with brown. Incubation is done by the female only, and lasts for about 12 days. The young Kentucky warblers usually leave the nest about 10 days after hatching.


The mourning warbler (Geothlypis philadelphia) is a small songbird of the New World warbler family. Mourning warblers are native to eastern and central North America as well as some countries in Central America. They are neotropical migrants and tend to be found in dense second growth forests. They are under the Wood-warbler category, which consists of arboreal and terrestrial colorful passerines. Wood warblers are in the order Passeriformes, which are perching birds including more than half of all bird species, and the family Parulidae which also includes the Common Yellowthroat, Black and White Warbler, Nashville Warbler, ovenbird, and American Redstart. They are very similar to the MacGillivray's Warbler in appearance, especially in females and immature birds, but their breeding range does not overlap into the west.
The "mourning" in this bird's name refers to the male's hood, thought to resemble a mourning veil.


Mourning warblers are small songbird with yellow underparts, olive-green upperparts, a thin pointed bill and pink legs. Adult males have a gray hood, black lores and a black patch on the throat and breast. In the fall, this pattern becomes less bright and harder to distinguish from similar species; however they never have a broken eye ring. Females and immatures are gray-brown on the head with an incomplete eye-ring. They have a yellow-gray throat with a brown or olive tint to their breast. Both sexes can range from 10–15 cm (3.9-5.9 in) in length and 11-13 g (0.4-0.5 oz) in weight. Their wingspan is 18 cm (7.1 in). Other than the MacGillivray’s Warbler, similar species include the Connecticut warblers which have a complete eye ring, not to be confused with a broken eye ring seen on immature Mourning warblers. Immature Connecticut warblers also have a whiter chest compared to the yellow chest on immature Mourning warblers. Nashville warblers are also commonly confused; however they have a yellow throat unlike the black or grey throats of Mourning warblers, females have a grey back, and they are smaller and less active than Mourning warblers.


Mourning warblers have breeding ground in southern Canada, and are commonly seen during migration in the central and eastern United States, Belieze, Bonaire, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Panama, and other Central American Islands. These birds migrate to Central America and northern South America. Mourning warblers are low or ground nesters, and prefer disturbed forests with a thick under-story and covered canopy. In the winter they prefer wet lowland habitat with dense vegetation.


Mourning warblers forage low in vegetation, sometimes catching insects in flight. These birds mainly eat insects, also some plant material including fruiting bodies from the Cecropia tree in winter. Their diet is not well documented but also includes insect larvae and spiders that they pick from the branches of shrubs. They are also known to remove the legs and wings of the insects before consuming.


Mourning warblers breed in southern Canada. Their breeding habitat is thickets and semi-open areas with dense shrubs across Canada east of the Rockies and the northeastern United States. The nest is an open cup placed on the ground in a well-concealed location under thick shrubs or other vegetation. Their nest is usually made out of grass, leaves and bark and lined with roots or other thin material.
Mourning warblers typically lay 2-5 eggs, which are white or speckled brown and black in appearance. Incubation is 12 days long and both adult males and females utilize a distraction technique of pretending to have broken wings to distract predators from their nest. Mourning warblers have young with gray tufts on their head and red mouths. Adult females are also known consume their eggs after their young hatch. The number of days for young to fledge is 7–9.


The song of this bird is a bright repetitive warble. The warble consists of rolling phrases that sound that typically lower in volume at the end and can sound like "chirry, chirry, chirry, chorry, chorry." The call is a sharp chip. There are usually two different pitched calls, with one higher than the harsh chip.


According to the North American Breeding Bird Survey, Mourning Warbler populations have declined by about 43% in the last 50 years. However, they are still categorized as a species of least concern with 17 million estimated as a global breeding population by Partners in Flight. As they have a preference for disturbed forests, they may be benefitting from human development that may be negatively effecting the habitats of other bird species.


Geranium caespitosum, the purple cluster geranium or pineywoods geranium, is a perennial herb native to the western United States and northern Mexico. Its US distribution includes Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.
It has a purple to red flower with 5 stamens, and the sepals are acuminate, tapering with a long point. It has palmately lobed leaves. The fruit is a schizocarp made up of 5 mericarps. Flowers bloom May to September. It grows in damp soils, as in the understory of coniferous forests and in canyons.


The Gosiute use the plant as an astringent and a decoction of the root to treat diarrhea. The Keres use roots crushed into a paste to treat sores, and the whole plant as turkey food.


The four varieties may known by the following common names:
G. c. var. caespitosum – pineywoods geranium
G. c. var. eremophilum – purple cluster geranium
G. c. var. fremontii – Fremont's geranium
G. c. var. parryi – Parry's geranium
In the United States, all four varieties are found in Arizona and New Mexico, and the purple cluster geranium is only found there. The other varieties are all found in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, and the pineywoods variety extends into Nevada and Texas.


Geranium carolinianum is a species of geranium known by the common name Carolina crane's-bill,  or Carolina geranium.  This species is native to North America, where it is widespread and grows in many types of habitat. There are two varieties; Geranium carolinianum var. carolinianum and the Geranium carolinianum var. sphaerospermum. This is a summer or winter annual herb. It can be considered invasive depending on the region, when it is found in the United States it is considered to be native.
The USDA has specific symbols or coding labeled for each plant in their database. For the Geranium carolinianum, it is GECAC4.


The plant has erect stems covered in spiky hairs. The color of the stem is typically pink to red. There are two leaves per node on each stem, called opposite leaves. The stem is not succulent and not nutrient-rich as a source of calories for herbivores.
The palmate leaves are several centimeters wide, ranging between 3–8 cm.  with a growth pattern of alternate, and usually divided into five segments which are each subdivided into elegantly pointed lobes and secondary lobes; they can be toothed or the leaves can be cleft. The leaf color can also appear grayish-green due to fine pubescent hairs that are present on the leaves.
The inflorescence is a cluster of one to several small flowers. Each flower has five-pointed sepals which can be as long as the petals, and five-notched petals in shades of white, light pink to lavender. This is a distinguishing factor for discriminating G. carolinianum from other species of Geranium. The flowers form in short tight clusters which grow off the main stems. The anthers do not have nectar spurs. The carpels have hair and are fused together. There are five carpels and one pistil. The petals are rounded. The color of the sepals is green to brown; they are ovate. Despite being thin, dry and paper-like, the sepals are flexible. The plant does not persist after flowering. Flowers of G. carolinianum bloom in late May to July. They do not give off any strong aroma or scent to attract pollinators into visiting the flower, but rather depend on visual stimuli for insects to be attracted for the benefit of the naturally produced sap.
The fruit has a hairy body and a style up to 1.5 centimeters long; it can grow to a length of 5mm. The fruit of the plant has long beak-like structures giving the plant its nickname of "Cranesbill." The seed surfaces are finely reticulated. The seeds have pits or depressions in them and are wingless. The fruit is dry, and does not split open when ripened. The root system of  Geranium carolinium is a taproot structure that can grow to a depth of 15 centimeters. The plant has a superior ovary.


Geranium carolinianum is found throughout much of the continental United States, from the New England region south to Central Mexico and along the Eastern coast. The plant likes arid areas that are nutrient-poor and have little competition, such as  clay and limestone prairies, lawns and roadsides, as well as abandoned fields and farmlands.
The pH that the Geranium carolinianum can survive in, is relatively high comparatively; the pH that is suitable for most plants is considerably lower. The plant can be found in conditions that are inhospitable to most plants as long as there is water available within reason.


There is potential for Geranium carolinianum to fight Hepatitis B. The ethanol extracted from the plant has been effective in treating inflammatory issues as well. The presence of the anti-HBV compounds in the geraniin, ellagic acid and hyperin in G. carolinianum L. might account for the effectiveness of this folk medicine in the treatment of HBV infections.


Insect visitors that have been observed collecting nectar include long-tongued bees (Megachile spp.), short-tongued bees (Halictid bees), and flower flies (Syrphids) who, in the larval stage, can provide early, cool-season aphid control. Northern Bobwhite Quails as well as Mourning Doves are known to eat the seeds of the plant. It is also a preferred winter forage for White-tailed Deer in the Southeast, with an average of 19 percent crude protein in the vegetative state.


Geranium dissectum or Cut-leaved Crane's-bill is a plant species of the genus Geranium. It is native to Europe.
It can be found on other continents as well, in some instances as an introduced species. It can be found in North America, where it is known as the cutleaf geranium.
Extracts of Geranium dissectum are reported to improve germination rates of Hemp seeds.


Geranium erianthum, the woolly geranium, is a flowering plant found in China, Japan, Russia, and North America. Within its range, it is often known as "wild geranium" or "cranesbill", but note that these common names are also used for several other species within the genus Geranium.


Geranium molle, the Dove's-foot Crane's-bill or Dovesfoot Geranium, is an annual herbaceous plant of the family Geraniaceae.


Geranium molle is a small plant reaching on average 5–30 centimetres (2.0–11.8 in) in height. It is a very branched plant, quite hairy, with several ascending stems. The leaves are palmate, cut 5 to 9 times. The basal leaves are arranged in a rosette, the upper ones are sessile, rounded and hairy, with a long petiole of about 5–12 millimetres (0.20–0.47 in). The flowers are pinkish-purple, 8–12 mm in diameter, with very jagged petals. It blooms from April to September. The flowers are hermaphrodite and mainly pollinated by Hymenoptera. Fruits are glabrous, usually with 6-9 transverse ridges.


It is native to the Mediterranean and sub-Mediterranean areas, but has naturalized in other parts of Europe, in southwestern and central  Asia and in North Africa, though it may have already been in those parts and areas, just not properly identified. It is considered an introduced species in North America, where it is known as Dovefoot Geranium or Awnless Geranium. Although non-native in parts of its range, this species poses little threat to native ecosystems.
It is found in dry meadows, hedges, banks and forest edges. It prefers sunny places on sandy and relatively dry soils,  at an altitude of 0–1,000 metres (0–3,281 ft) above sea level.


Nicholas Culpeper in his herbal of 1652 suggested a variety of uses for G. molle, including the treatment of internal and external injuries. A note was made that the bruised leaf healed external injuries faster. A decoction in wine was said to relieve gout and other joint pains.


Geranium pratense, the meadow crane's-bill or meadow geranium, is a species of flowering plant in the family Geraniaceae, native to Europe and Asia. Forming a clump roughly 1 m (3.3 ft) tall and broad, it is a herbaceous perennial with hairy stems and lax saucer-shaped blooms of pale violet. It is extremely hardy to at least −20 °C (−4 °F), reflecting its origins in the Altai Mountains of central Asia.
The leaves are deeply divided into 7-9 lobes and 3-6 inch wide and the flowers are pale blue, although getting paler into the centre. The flowers have 5 petals, which sometimes have veins. The stamens have pink-purple stalks with dark purple anthers.
Several cultivars are available for garden use, of which 'Mrs Kendall Clark' and 'Plenum violaceum' have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.


Geranium pusillum, commonly known as small-flowered crane's-bill or (in North America) small geranium, is a herbaceous annual plant of the genus Geranium.
Small geranium is native to Europe but is introduced in almost every region of the USA and Canada, where it is associated with ecologically disturbed sites.


Geranium richardsonii is a species of geranium known by the common name Richardson's geranium. It is native to western North America from Alaska to New Mexico, where it can be found in a number of habitats, especially mountains and forests. This is a perennial herb varying in maximum height from 20 to 80 centimeters. The plant grows from a tough, woody taproot and older plants develop rhizomes. The leaves are up to 15 centimeters wide and are divided into generally five segments, each segment subdivided into small rounded or pointed lobes. The flower has five pointed sepals beneath five rounded petals, each one to two centimeters long. The petals are white to purple with darker purple veining. The fruit has a small body with a straight style up to 2.5 centimeters long (see image at left).


Geranium robertianum, commonly known as herb-Robert, or (in North America) Roberts geranium, is a common species of cranesbill native to Europe and parts of Asia, and North Africa. The plant has  many vernacular names, including red robin, death come quickly, fox geranium, stinking Bob, squinter-pip (Shropshire) and crow's foot.


It grows as a procumbent (prostrate or trailing) to erect annual or biennial plant, up to fifty centimetres high, producing small, pink, five-petalled flowers (8–14 mm in diameter) from April until the autumn. The leaves are deeply dissected, ternate to palmate, the stems reddish and prominently hairy; the leaves also turn red at the end of the flowering season.


Its main area of distribution is Europe from the north Mediterranean coast to the Baltic and from the British Isles in the west to the Caucasus in the east, and eastern North America.  In western North America, it has escaped from cultivation and is regarded as an invasive species.Geranium robertianum is common throughout Great Britain and Ireland in woodland, hedgerows, scree and maritime shingle.  It grows at altitudes from sea level to 710 metres (2,329 ft) in Teesdale, England and above 2,100 metres (6,890 ft) in parts of mainland Europe on calcareous alpine screes.


Herb Robert has been used in the folk medicine of several countries, including as a treatment for diarrhea, to improve functioning of the liver and gallbladder, for toothache and nosebleeds, and as a vulnerary (used for or useful in healing wounds). Its common name has several possible sources: the Latin word for red, ruber; Shakespearean character Robin Goodfellow, the mischevious hobgoblin in A Midsummer Night's Dream; an early duke of Normandy named Robert who is rumored to have commissioned the Regimen sanitatis Salernitanum; or abbot and herbalist Robert of Molesme.  Freshly picked leaves have an odor resembling burning tires when crushed, and if they are rubbed on the body the smell is said to repel mosquitoes.
The active ingredients are tannins, a bitter compound called geraniin, and essential oils.


Geranium sanguineum, common names bloody crane's-bill or bloody geranium, is a species of hardy flowering herbaceous perennial plant in the cranesbill family Geraniaceae.  It is also the county flower of Northumberland.


The genus name is derived from the Greek γέρανος ("géranos"), meaning crane, with reference to the appearance of the fruit capsule. The specific Latin name sanguineum refers to the red color assumed by the leaves in Autumn.


The biological form of Geranium sanguineum is hemicryptophyte, as its overwintering buds are situated just below the soil surface and the floral axis is more or less erect with a few leaves. It  has a thick rhizome. The stems are prostrate to ascending, well developed, very branched and hairy. This plant reaches on average 30–50 centimetres (12–20 in) in height. The petiolate leaves have five lobes (or segments), each segment is tripartite in large teeth. The flowers have a diameter of 2.5 to 4 cm. and are purple The flowering period extends from May through October. The flowers are hermaphrodite and pollinated by insects (entomophily). The most common flower visitors are Syrphidae and Hymenoptera, but also butterflies and Coleoptera. The fruit is a schizocarp that breaks up into five mericarps when ripe.


Geranium sanguineum is native to Europe and temperate Asia. It is widespread in most of Europe up to Caucasus. In the north-east of Ireland it is a rare garden escape.


The typical habitat of this species is grassland, sand dunes and open woodland on calcareous soils, including rocky slopes. It prefers calcareous soils with neutral pH, with low nutritional value, at an altitude of 0–1,200 metres (0–3,937 ft) above sea level.


It is cultivated as a garden subject, and a number of different cultivars exist. The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:
'Album'
'Ankum's Pride'
’Aviemore’
'Little Bead'
'Shepherd's Warning'
G. sanguineum var. striatum
Geranium sanguineum var. striatum 'Splendens'


Geranium viscosissimum, commonly known as the sticky purple geranium, is a perennial in the flowering plant family Geraniaceae. It is thought to be a protocarnivorous plant.


This herbaceous perennial plant is native to the Northwestern United States, California, and Nevada, including in the Great Basin and Rocky Mountains regions; and to Western Canada, including in the Canadian Rockies.
Habitats it is found in include yellow pine forest, northern juniper woodland, lowland to higher elevation meadows, and wetland-riparian zones; from 3,300–8,200 feet (1,000–2,500 m) in elevation.


Geranium viscosissimum is a large, clumped 0.5–3 feet (0.15–0.91 m) tall perennial wild geranium. The stem, leaves, and flower stalks are covered with sticky hairs. The right-green leaves are dissected, many-toothed, and deeply-lobed.
Its bloom period is April to September, depending on elevation and latitude. It has saucer-shaped, pink-to-purple flowers measuring 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) with reddish-purple lines on the petals. They occur in an open cluster near the top of strong, branching and leafy flower stalks, which are 1–2 feet (0.30–0.61 m) tall.


In his 1999 journal article, G. G. Spomer tested several plants in the Pacific Northwest for the carnivorous syndrome, using the digestion of proteins as the diagnostic tool to determine which plants appeared to produce protease enzymes capable of breaking down potential prey. Geranium viscosissimum displayed a capability to digest and absorb the ¹⁴C-labeled algal protein placed on the sticky trichomes that the plant possesses. However, it is not known whether the digestive enzymes were produced by the plant itself or surface microbes. Additionally, some definitions of carnivory require the plant to gain some tangible benefit in capturing and digesting prey, such as increased seed yield or growth. Such an experiment has not been done with this species.


The flowers and leaves of this species are edible, but reported to be astringent. The flowers can be added to salads or used as a garnish.


Geranium viscosissimum is cultivated as an ornamental plant by specialty plant nurseries, for use in native plant and wildlife gardens.  The plant attracts butterflies.


The white-tailed hawk (Geranoaetus albicaudatus) is a large bird of prey species found in tropical and subtropical environments of the Americas.