I48 GERANIUM FAMILY 



small, narrow; tendrils simple or branched. Peduncle with 

 mostly 3 (2 to 10) spreading flowers. Corolla 3/g in. long, 

 nearly white but variable as to color. (L. paluster graminifolius 

 Wats.) 



The numerous, grass-like leaves are much narrower in this 

 species than in the others and the stems are rarely over 1 ft. 

 long. It grows in open pine forests near Crockers and at Big 

 Meadows. Although apparently rather rare in California, 

 it has a wider range than our other species, extending south- 

 ward to Mexico. 



GERANIACEAE. Geranium Family. 



Herbs with lobed dissected or compound leaves and regular 

 flowers. Sepals and petals 5 each, the stamens twice as many 

 (5 in Erodium) and distinct. Ovary 5-lobed, each lobe be- 

 coming a 1-seeded nutlet. 



Leaves palmately lobed 1. Geranium. 



Leaves pinnately dissected or compound. 



Flowers l A in. long, purple; stems prostrate 2. Erodium. 



Flowers J^ in. long, whitish; stems erect 3. Floerkia. 



1. GERANIUM. Geranium. 

 Herbs with forking stems, swollen joints, and alternate 

 stipulate palmately parted leaves. Petals deciduous. Styles 

 united around an elongated axis, becoming coiled tails of the 

 seed-bodies. 



1. G. carolinianum L. Carolina Geranium. Stems slen- 

 der, weak, J / 2 to V/2 ft. long. Herbage pubescent. Leaves 

 roundish, 1 to 2 in. across, parted into 5 to 7 wedge-shaped 

 toothed obtuse segments. Petals pink, about ^4 m - long- 



This is a naturalized annual from the Eastern United 

 States, now found as far into the mountains as the Hetch 

 Hetchy and Yosemite valleys. G. dissectum L., differing in 

 its purple flowers and acute leaf-lobes, is also to be expected. 



2. G. incisum Nutt. Stems erect, 1 to 2 ft. high; herbage 

 pubescent with rather short dingy hairs, glandular. Leaves 

 2 to 4 in. broad, roundish, palmately parted into 3 to 5 lobes 

 which are again cleft or toothed. Petals pinkish, with deep- 

 red veins, hairy within, J / 2 to 34 in. long. 



This pink-flowered geranium, which grows from thick, 

 perennial roots, is a pleasing and not uncommon inhabitant 

 of the Yellow Pine Belt. In exposed places the plants are 

 small and very hairy, in the shade they become taller and 

 smoother. Occasionally they produce albino flowers and can 

 then scarcely be distinguished from the next species. 



