Decumbent to ascending perennial; stems to 50 cm long, with sparse to dense, short, retrorsely appressed hairs and occasionally c. spreading hairs; taproot cylindric to napiform. Leaves orbicular to reniform, 1–4.5 cm long, deeply palmatisect into 3–7, very narrow-linear, deeply trisected (often further divided) primary lobes; ultimate lobes obtuse to acute; upper surface with sparse tiny, curved to appressed hairs, or glabrous; stipules narrow-ovate to lanceolate, acuminate, margins sometimes membranous. Flowers solitary or paired; peduncles 0.8–2.5(–4.5) cm long; pedicels 0.8–2.4 cm long. Sepals ovate to narrow-elliptic, 4.5–7 mm long, acute, pubescent with minute glandular and eglandular hairs, and some longer hairs, mucro 0.5–1 mm long, margin c. translucent; petals obovate, 6–9 mm long, truncate to retuse, pale or bright pink to magenta; anthers yellow, often with faint purple-black-lines. Fruits 11–15 mm long; mericarps with short recurved hairs becoming longer toward awn and dorsal rib, and scattered long hairs, suture margins long-ciliate; seed slightly rugose with small isodiametric alveolae. Flowers Aug.–Jan.(–May).

LoM, MuM, Wim, GleP, VVP, VRiv, MuF, GipP, OtP, WaP, Gold, CVU, GGr, DunT, NIS, EGL, EGU, WPro, HSF, HNF, OtR, Strz, MonT, HFE, VAlp. Also WA, SA, NSW, ACT, Tas. New Zealand. A widespread species, occurring predominantly in lowland grasslands and grassy woodlands. Tolerates seasonal drought, but intolerant of prolonged inundation.

Most Victorian plants differ from the type form of Geranium retrorsum from New Zealand as circumscribed by Gardner (1984). Further assessment of this species may result in Victorian (?and Australian) material being reclassified at an infraspecific level.

Geranium retrorsum is an unresolved species complex. A variant from the Smiths Gully-Hurstbridge area (in outer north-eastern area Melbourne) was segregated from G. retrorsum in Bull (2014) as Geranium beardsellii (nom.illeg.), with Geranium sp. 14 cited as a synonym. It differs from G. retrorsum in having darker green, less dissected leaves which are not 'tangled' in appearance ('tangled' in G. retrorsum) and are 5-lobed (3–7-lobed and each lobe deeply trisected in G. retrorsum), with the lobes less linear, not distinctly hairy on lower surface (short hairs below, often only on margins and veins in G. retrorsum), with scattered short hairs on the upper surface (glabrous in G. retrorsum). The petals are rounded to truncate or rarely very slightly notched (notched in G. retrorsum); and anthers cream-lemon often with faint purple-black-lines (lemon yellow in G. retrorsum) (Bull 2014).

Melaleuca brachyandra (Lindl.) Craven