72 WILLIAM TEELEASE ON THE 



and tei'minal or appai-ently racemose or umbellate. Flowers hermaphrodite, mostly 5- 

 merous (3-4-merous \n Limnantheae) and symmetrical, nearly hypogynous. Sepals and 

 petals distinct or nearly so. Stamens mostly twice as many as the petals, distinct or 

 somewhat connate in O.vdlis and Imjmtiens; anthers round-oval, more or less versatile, 

 two-celled, dehiscing longitudinally. Carpels as many as the sepals, alternate Avith them 

 and united about an axile column except in Limnantheae; ovary deeply lobed, its cells 

 1- x-ovuled; styles commonly united below, the capitate or latei-al stigmas mostly distinct. 

 Glands of the receptacle as many as the sepals and opposite them (i-educed and opposite 

 the petals in Oxalls), or wanting when the flower is spuri-ed. Seeds with little or no 

 albumen except in Oxalis; embryo sti-aight or incumbent, the cotyledons somewhat pli- 

 cate and lobed in the genera with dissected leaves. A heterogeneous order of al^out 

 750 species, chiefly of subtropical and temperate regions, related on the one hand to Zy- 

 gojjhylleae, and on the other to Rutaceae. The suborders are treated as distinct by many 

 continental writers. 



GEEANIEAEi. 



Flowers regular or nearly so, 5-merous, homogone^; sepals imbricate, persistent, en- 

 larging somewhat in fruit; petals imbricate, deciduous; antheriferous stamens as many 

 as and opposite the sepals or tAvice as many, Avith persistent filaments; glands opposite 

 the sepals, conspicuous; cai'pels alternate with the sepals, 2-ovuled, becoming 1-seeded, 

 breaking elastically from a persistent fluted beak. — Geraniaceae of continental Avriters; 

 five genera, three of them confined to Asia and Africa, the other tAvo Avidely distributed. 



GEEANIUM, L. Gen., no. 673 ; Bcntli. and Hook., Gen., i, 272. 



Usually caulescent herbs with simple radiately-divided petioled and stipulate leaves; 

 peduncles mostly 2-flowered; stamens ten, all antheriferous (except in G. inisillinn'), 

 mostly united a little at base; ovary deei)ly divided; ripened carpels dehiscent on the 

 inner side, the stylar appendage finally arched, glabrate on the inner side; seed round- 

 oblong, smooth, reticulate-i'idged, or hexagonal-pitted, with little or no albumen ; embryo 

 incumbent with sinuously folded cotyledons. — About one hundred species, almost con- 

 fined to temperate regions. 



Synopsis of North Amkrican Species. 



*Perennial from a stout caudex; flowers large, 15-30 mm.; seeds reticulate-ridged. 

 Erect, not cespitosc; leaves large, 100-200 mm. 



Petals glabrous or only pubescent within ; plant scarcely glandular except that the ca- 

 lyx hairs are often tipped with small glands. 



'The characters giveu refer only to our represeuta- 'Tliat is, essentially alike in a given species, so f.ir as 



tives. the rehitive length ol' stamens and pistils is concerned. 



