DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Geranium richardsonii | Richardson's Geranium 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Richardson's geranium is the most widespread native geranium (Geranium
spp.) in North America [29,51].  It occurs from Alaska and the Yukon
Territory south to California, Arizona, and New Mexico [30,59].
Richardson's geranium is also found in the Black Hills of South Dakota
[25,30].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES17  Elm - ash - cottonwood
   FRES20  Douglas-fir
   FRES21  Ponderosa pine
   FRES23  Fir - spruce
   FRES26  Lodgepole pine
   FRES28  Western hardwoods
   FRES34  Chaparral - mountain shrub
   FRES35  Pinyon - juniper
   FRES36  Mountain grasslands
   FRES37  Mountain meadows
   FRES38  Plains grasslands
   FRES41  Wet grasslands
   FRES44  Alpine


STATES : 
     AK  AZ  CA  CO  ID  MT  NV  NM  OR  SD
     UT  WA  WY  AB  BC  SK  YT


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     BLCA  BRCA  CACH  CEBR  DINO  FLFO
     FOBU  GLAC  GRCA  GRTE  LAME  MORU
     ROMO  SAGU  TICA  WACA  YELL  YOSE


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    2  Cascade Mountains
    3  Southern Pacific Border
    4  Sierra Mountains
    5  Columbia Plateau
    6  Upper Basin and Range
    8  Northern Rocky Mountains
    9  Middle Rocky Mountains
   10  Wyoming Basin
   11  Southern Rocky Mountains
   12  Colorado Plateau
   13  Rocky Mountain Piedmont
   15  Black Hills Uplift
   16  Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K005  Mixed conifer forest
   K007  Red fir forest
   K011  Western ponderosa forest
   K012  Douglas-fir forest
   K015  Western spruce - fir forest
   K016  Eastern ponderosa forest
   K017  Black Hills pine forest
   K018  Pine - Douglas-fir forest
   K019  Arizona pine forest 
   K020  Spruce - fir - Douglas-fir forest
   K021  Southwestern spruce - fir forest
   K022  Great Basin pine forest
   K023  Juniper - pinyon woodland
   K031  Oak - juniper woodlands
   K032  Transition between K031 and K037
   K037  Mountain-mahogany - oak scrub
   K052  Alpine meadows and barren
   K063  Foothills prairie
   K064  Grama - needlegrass - wheatgrass
   K066  Wheatgrass - needlegrass
   K098  Northern floodplain forest


SAF COVER TYPES : 
    63  Cottonwood
   206  Engelmann spruce - subalpine fir
   207  Red fir
   209  Bristlecone pine
   210  Interior Douglas-fir
   211  White fir
   216  Blue spruce
   217  Aspen
   218  Lodgepole pine
   219  Limber pine
   220  Rocky Mountain juniper
   235  Cottonwood - willow
   236  Bur oak
   237  Interior ponderosa pine
   239  Pinyon - juniper
   241  Western live oak
   243  Sierra Nevada mixed conifer
   256  California mixed subalpine


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Richardson's geranium occurs in a wide variety of forested habitat
types, as well as grassland, meadow, alpine, and riparian zones
[4,14,54,59,60].

Richardson's geranium occurs in both climax and seral communities.  It
is a member of the giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum)-mixed
conifer forest in the Sierra Nevada of California [3].  Richardson's
geranium is abundant in the true pinyon-Rocky Mountain juniper (Pinus
edulis-Juniperus scopulorum) habitat type of Utah [14].  It is an
important understory species in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa),
subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa), Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii),
blue spruce (P. pungens), white fir (A. concolor), and Douglas-fir
(Pseudotsuga menziesii) habitat types of Arizona and New Mexico
[1,18,35].  Richardson's geranium is a common understory species in
subalpine fir and Engelmann spruce habitat types of the Intermountain
West [6,31].

Richardson's geranium is found in seral quaking aspen (Populus
tremuloides)-dominated community types in Wyoming, Idaho, Utah,
Colorado, and Montana [2,34,36,39].  In Wyoming, Richardson's geranium
occurs in spruce/field horsetail (Picea spp./Equisetum arvense) and
spruce/sweet-scented bedstraw (Galium triflorum) riparian community
types [60].  In wet meadows of Utah, Richardson's geranium is codominant
with western wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii) [23].  Richardson's
geranium is a dominant understory species in the subalpine fir/mountain
bluebells (Mertensia ciliata) habitat type and in aspen-dominated
communities of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado [13].  In
Canada, Richardson's geranium is a member of the subboreal,
aspen-dominated spruce zone [44].

The following publication lists Richardson's geranium as a community
dominant:  

A classification of forest habitat types of northern New Mexico and
  southern Colorado [13]

Species not previously mentioned but commonly associated with
Richardson's geranium include sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana),
incense-cedar (Calocedrus decurrens), willows (Salix spp.), black
cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa var. hastata), narrowleaf cottonwood (P.
angustifolia), thinleaf alder (Alnus incana ssp. tenuifolia), hackberry
(Celtis occidentalis), boxelder (Acer negundo), alligator juniper
(Juniperus deppeana), Utah juniper (J. utahensis), Gambel oak (Quercus
gambelii), bigtooth maple (Acer grandidentatum), Rocky Mountain maple
(A. glabrum), dwarf bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), grouse whortleberry
(V. scoparium), red-osier dogwood (Cornus sericea), rose (Rosa spp.),
russet buffaloberry (Shepherdia canadensis), mountain snowberry
(Symphoricarpos oreophilus), shrubby cinquefoil (Potentilla fruticosa),
common chokecherry (Prunus virginiana), antelope bitterbrush (Purshia
tridentata), slender wheatgrass (Elymus trachycaulus), California brome
(Bromus carinatus), Letterman needlegrass (Stipa lettermanii), Arizona
fescue (Festuca arizonica), mountain muhly (Muhlenbergia montana), Ross
sedge (Carex rossii), Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratense), western
meadowrue (Thalictrum occidentale), northern bedstraw (Galium boreale),
western yarrow (Achillea millefolium), fireweed (Epilobium
angustifolium), and starry Solomon-seal (Smilacina stellata)
[4,6,14,31,35,45].  

Related categories for Species: Geranium richardsonii | Richardson's Geranium