CHAP. I.] GERANIACE^. 335 



of the bird, and the long styles the beak. The 

 leaves vary in shape in the different kinds : 

 sometimes they are roundish, as in the Horse- 

 shoe Geranium, and marked with a dark band 

 or zone, whence the specific name zonale ; and 

 sometimes they are deeply cut, as in the rose- 

 scented kinds : some are shrubby, and some 

 herbaceous ; and the stems of some species are 

 warted, and the roots of others tuberous. 



The genus Erodium consists principally of 

 European plants, three of which are natives of 

 England. The commonest of these {Erodium 

 cicutarium) is called in many parts of England 

 the AVild Geranium ; and nearly allied to it, 

 but less common, is E. moschatum. The princi- 

 pal points in which this genus differs from 

 Pelargonium are, that the filaments of the sta- 

 mens are very little united at the base ; that 

 there are always five filaments which bear 

 anthers, and five that are sterile, and that the 

 latter have each a gland at the base. The calyx 

 is also without the spur, and the seed-pod is 

 thought to resemble a heron's head more than 

 that of a stork. When it bursts, also, the 

 styles, which are hairy inside like those of the 

 Pelargonium, do not curl up in the same manner 

 as in that genus, but spirally. 



The genus Geranium differs from Erodium 

 principally in having the stamens all perfect ; 



