52 GERANIE^. 



by its hygroscopic twistings and untwistings buries 



it and its seed in the ground (Stork's- or Heron's-bill). 



The parts of the flower are in perfect systems of five : 



five sepals, five petals twisted in bud, with small round 



glands between them, ten or fifteen stamens, and five 



carpels in the ovar3\ They are usually showy. 



The tribe occurs in all parts of the world, but not on the 

 plains of South India ; and is represented here by only one truly 

 wild species, Geranium nepalense Sw., but an Erodium and a 

 strongly scented Pelargonium, a native of South Africa, occur 

 as garden-escapes. 



{Leaves palmately cut or lobed b 

 Leaves pinnate erodium. 



f Flowers solitary or in pairs, on slender pedicels .... 



, J GERANIUM. 



I Flowers in umbels, flower-stalk with a slight swelling on 

 [ one side near the base ...... pelargonium. 



GERANIUM. F.B.L 32 m. 



Crane^s-hill. 



Stamens ten, all fertile ; glands five, between the 



petals; beak of carpel glabrous; seed one to each ripe 



carpel, jerked out of it by the curling of the " beak." 



Herbs with opposite or alternate stipulate, toothed or 



palmately cut, leaves, at swollen nodes ; and flowers 



solitary or in pairs on axillary peduncles. 



Species 260 in temperate climates. Ger. Storkhschnabel 

 Fr. Bec-de-grue. 



Named from the Greek GERANOS, a Crane, in alhision to the beak of the 

 ripe fruit. 



Geranium nepalense Sweet ; F.B.L i 430, III 9 ; 

 Nepal Crane's-bill. A delicate perennial herb with pink 

 stem and flowers. Rootstock stout ; stems slender, weak, 

 much branched, hairy. Leaves opposite, stalks slender, 

 I/^ to 3 inches, densely hairy near the top ; stipules % 

 inch, very acute ; blade deeply divided into five lobes, 

 which are again cut and lobed, the ultimate lobes oblong 



