It is a perennial herbaceous plant growing to 60 cm (2 ft) tall, producing upright, usually unbranched stems and flowers in spring to early summer.

The flowers are 2.5–4 cm (1.0–1.6 in) in diameter, with five rose-purple, pale or violet-purple (rarely white) petals and ten stamens.

[4] The fruit capsule, which springs open when ripe, consists of five cells each containing one seed joined to a long beak-like column 2–3 cm (0.8–1.2 in) long (resembling a crane's bill) produced from the center of the old flower.

The cultivar 'Elizabeth Ann' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Wild geranium is considered an astringent, a substance that causes contraction of the tissues and stops bleeding.