July 1, 1869.] 



HABDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



153 



matous Cranesbills is above suspicion; but as much 

 cannot be said for those -which remain for us to con- 

 sider. The Pencilled Geranium (67. striatum), or 

 "Painted Lady," as it is sometimes called, is so 

 common in gardens where everything is not sacri- 

 ficed to the " bedding " system, that it can need but 

 little description; the flowers are somewhat vaselike 

 in sliape, white, and most delicately striped with 

 pink or lilac veins. It seems possible that this 

 species may be wild in the Channel Islands, and it 

 is said to be at any rate naturalized in Devon and 

 Cornwall ; many other localities in different counties 

 are recorded for it, but it does not appear to be per- 

 manently established in any save in those we have 

 specified. Another common garden species, the 

 Dusky Cranesbill (67. pha>um), known by its very 

 dark brownish-purple blossoms, is naturalized in 

 some places, but seems to have no claims to be con- 

 sidered a native: a white-flowered variety sometimes 

 occurs. G. nodosum or G. angulatum (perhaps both) 

 " has been reported from Hertfordshire, Yorkshire, 

 and Cumberland" {Cybele,\. 259) ; also from Surrey 

 and Perthshire ; and in the British herbarium at the 

 British Museum, there is a specimen of G. macro- 

 rhizum, to which the following note is attached : — 

 " Growing in great abundance on walls at the North 

 Hall, called by the common people Valery Ann; 

 Bev. Aaron Neck, St. Mary Church, Newton 

 Abbot, Devon, Sept. 3, 1803." 



The Mountain Cranesbill (G. pyrenaicum) may be 

 regarded as a connecting link between the perennial 

 and the annual species. Although much larger in 

 all its parts than any of the latter, its root-leaves 

 bear considerable resemblance to those of G. molle ; 

 indeed, in a young state, the plants are liable to be 

 confused, as the root-leaves of G. molle often attain 

 a very large size. It may be owing to this resem- 

 blance that we find no reference to G. pyrenaicum in 

 Bay's " Synopsis," although Hudson had previously 

 mentioned it : Curtis, too, united it with G. molle. 

 it may be distinguished from all the preceding by 

 the absence of a rhizome, the root being long and 

 tapering. When the flowering-stems of this Cranes- 

 bill first shoot up above the leaves, the buds appear 

 to grow in a dense head ; but as the stems elongate 

 and the blossoms develop, we see that the former 

 are branched, the branches proceeding from the 

 axils of the leaves. Prom the same axil both a 

 flowering branch and a two-flowered peduncle 

 often proceed; and these axillary stems are again 

 branched, so that the plant, when in full flower, 

 presents a somewhat straggling and untidy ap- 

 pearance. The stem-leaves are more deeply cleft 

 than those proceeding from the root, and the upper 

 are nearly sessile ; the flowers are about as large 

 round as a fourpenny piece, with deeply-notched 

 petals of a peculiar bluish-purple, slightly tinged 

 Avith red, which we have never seen accurately ren- 

 dered in any plate of the plant. Although called 



the Mountain Cranesbill, it is by no means restricted 

 to elevated situations ; we find it by roadsides, often 

 so covered with dust as to be almost undistinguish- 

 able, or in waste places near houses, which latter 

 circumstance has caused its nativity to be doubted. 

 We have little doubt, however, that, like the Gout- 

 weed and Celandine, which frequent similar locali- 

 ties, it is really an indigenous species in most of its 

 English habitats, although its occurrence in Scotland 

 is more liable to suspicion. Mr. Baker, speaking of 

 it as a North Yorkshire plant, says, "I have no- 

 hesitation in considering the species as native. I 

 have not seen it within our limits as a garden plant, 

 and it grows upon hedgebanks hke pusillum, molle, 

 and columbinum ." In the neighbourhood of London, 

 as about Chelsea and Brompton, G . pyrenaicum is- 

 very abundant ; it blossoms from the middle of May 

 until late in the autumn. 



II. Annuals. — We will first consider theDove's- 

 foot Cranesbill (67. molle), the resemblance of which 

 to the Mountain Cranesbill has already been men- 

 tioned. This is a soft plant, growing by roadsides, 

 on banks, or in clover fields, with prostrate, or 

 ascending (sometimes almost erect) stems, and 

 small pink flowers, with deeply cleft petals, which 

 do not become of so blue a tint when fading as 

 these of G. pyrenaicum. The Dove's - foot is, 

 however, a much smaller plant than the Mountain 

 Cranesbill, and the stems, even when nearly erect, 

 are much weaker than those of that species : the 

 leaves, too, are usually of a lighter green. Pale- 

 flowered forms are common, and a white one is not 

 unfrequent : near the village of Lake, in the Isle 

 of Wight, is a bank covered for some considerable 

 distance with this latter variety. The Small- 

 flowered Cranesbill (67. pusillum) grows in the 

 same situations as 67. molle, but is much less com- 

 mon; it is often passed over in mistake for the 

 Dove's -foot, although a little examination will 

 discover important points of difference between 

 them. The leaves of G. pusillum are more deeply 

 cut (the upper often to their base) ; and the seg- 

 ments of the rootleaves sometimes do not touch, 

 and, as far as our investigation goes, never overlap,, 

 as do those of 67. molle. The petals, although 

 notched, are not bifid as in G. molle, and the 

 flowers are smaller, and not so pink. It is difficult 

 to describe satisfactorily the differences in colour 

 of the flowers of some of our Cranesbills ; but any 

 one acquainted with the plants will notice that 

 there are such differences, although a verbal de- 

 scription may be inadequate to present them 

 properly to the reader. The corolla is not so flat aa 

 that of 67. molle, and five of the stamens are abor- 

 tive, being without anthers : this is one of the most 

 distinctive marks of 67. pusillum, which in this par- 

 ticular approaches the Storksbills {Erodium). One 

 may occasionally find the anthers defective in other 

 species ; but with them it is the exception, while in 



