Stork's-bill is a spreading, hairy, annual herb, 3-40 cm tall, sparingly branched from the base of the plant, and usually with a reddish cast. The leaves are mostly basal, often hug the ground, and are pinnately compound with leaflets often deeply toothed. The stem leaves are opposite at the knob-like nodes. The flowers are small (8-15 mm), pink, with 5 bristle-tipped sepals, 5 petals, and 10 stamens (5 short sterile alternating with 5 longer fertile). The maturing capsules give the plant its common name. This introduced weed is abundant in fields, clearings and waste places at low elevations.