334 



GERANIACE^. 



[part 



Fig. 134.. 



-Seed-vessel of a Pelargo- 

 nium. 



The shape of the unripe seed-vessel, with its 

 persistent calyx, is shown at c, and a detached 



seed at ^. No plant 

 hybridises more 

 freely than the 

 Pelargonium ; and 

 thus, the number 

 of new kinds raised 

 every year defies 

 all description, and 

 they have been so 

 mixed and inter- 

 mixed with each 

 other, that it is 

 not easy to say to what species the most 

 splendid hybrids are allied. A few species, 

 however, remain nearly unchanged, and the 

 best known of these are P. zonale, the Horse- 

 shoe Geranium ; P. inquinans, the common 

 scarlet, the juice of the leaves of which is said 

 to stain the fingers brown ; P. graveolens^ and 

 P. capitatum^ the rose-scented Geraniums, and 

 P. tricolor. All the Pelargoniums have their 

 flowers in heads or umbels ; and the calyx in 

 all of them remains on till the seeds are ripe. 

 The seed-vessel, or fruit, as it is called by bota- 

 nists, is long and pointed, forming some resem- 

 blance to the head of a stork; the ovary shrouded 

 in the persistent calyx, representing the head 



