Ceranium.'] GeraniacecB. 195 



XXVIII.— GERANIACE^. 



Herbs, or semi-shrubby ; 1. alternate or opposite, simple or 



compound, usually stipulate ; fl. bisexual, regular or irregular ; 



sep. 5 or 3, distinct, equal or unequal, imbricate, i often 



spurred ; pet. 5 (or apparently 3), distinct or connate, equal 



or unequal, imbricate ; stam. 5 or 10, fil. distinct or connate, 



anth. distinct or coherent ; ov. 5-celled, with few or many 



•ovules in each cell ; styles distinct or o ; fruit either distinct 



i-seeded cocci, or a 5-celled capsule, or a drupe with a 



5-celled stone ; seeds with or without an aril, endosperm 



■scanty or o. 



Fls. regular. 



Pet. imbricate ; fruit of 5 cocci i. Geranium. 



Pet. contorted ; fruit a capsule {Oxalidecp). 



L. trifoliolate 2. Oxalis. 



L. pinnate 3. BlOPHYTUM. 



Fls. irregular {Balsaininecs). 



Lat. pet. connate ; fruit a capsule . . . .4. Impatiens. 

 Lat. pet. distinct ; fruit a drupe . . . .5. Hydrocera. 



Our species are mostly montane : — Gera7iium, 3 species of Biophytiim 

 and 17 oi Impatiens. Of these, 4 or 5 Iinpatieiis also extend downwards 

 into the low country, to which are confined 2 species of Biopliytum, 4 

 species of Impatiens and Hydrocera. Oxalis corniculata is a universal 

 weed ; it occurs even in Britain ; and Geranium and Impatiens are also 

 British genera. 



I. G-SRANZUBX, L. 



Herbs ; 1. opp., stipulate ; fl. regular, axillary ; sep. 5, 

 imbricate; pet. 5, imbricate; stam. 10, distinct; ov. with a 

 long beak, 5-celled, with 2 or 3 superposed ovules in each 

 cell, styles 5 ; fr. dry, separating into 5 one-seeded cocci, each 

 with a long beak which curls upwards elastically, remaining 

 attached to apex of the axis ; cotyledons leafy, endosperm 

 very scanty. — Sp. lOO ; 18 in FL B. hid. 



G-. nepalense, Sweet. Ger. t. 12 (1820). 



Thw. Enum. 64. C. P. 2788. 



Fl. B. Ind. i. 431. Wight, 111. t. 59 {G. affine, W. and A.). 



A perennial herb, with a woody rootstock and numerous 

 long, ascending, diffuse, much -branched, pilose stems ; 1. 

 opposite, roundish in outline, i-i^ in., very deeply divided 



