164 XXX. ZTGOPHTLLACEJE. 



1. Fagonia cretica, Linn. Sp. PI. (1753) p. 386. A small spiny- 

 erect underslirub, more or less glandular ; branches slender, terete, 

 striate, glabrous. Leaves opposite, 1-3-foliolate ; petioles very variable 

 in lengtii, from g-l^ in. long, deeply striate, very slender; stipules 

 2 pairs of sharp slender thorns sometimes exceeding ^ in. long ; leaflets 

 2~4 '^y TT"^ ^"•' li"^^^"- acute (when the leaflets are 3 in number, the 

 middle the largest), sesf>ile or with very short petiolules. iMowers small, 

 pale rose-colored ; pedicels slender, \-^ in. long. Sepals i in. long, 

 ovate, aristate. Petals twice as long as the sepals, spathulate ; claw 

 long. Ovary hairy ; style tapering. Pruit glandular-pubescent, rounded 

 at the base, pyramidal towards the apex, deeply 5-partite almost to the 

 axis. Seeds ovoid, acute, flattened, smooth. Fagonia arahica, Linn. Sp. 

 PI. p. 386; PI. B. 1. V. 1, p. 425; Boiss. PI. Orient, v. 1, p. 907; 

 Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 11 (1897) p. 206 ; Watt, Diet. Econ. 

 Prod. V. 3, p. 308. Fcu/onia mysorensis, Koth, Nov. Sp. p. 215 ; Grab. 

 Cat. p. 35 ; Dalz. & Gibs. p. 45. — Plowers : Oct.-Dec. Vetin. 

 Bhamdsa. 



Common in the Deccan ; less common in Sind. Deccan: Dalsell ^- Gibson; in 

 grain fields (common), Graham ; Bijapur, Cooke !, Woodrow ! Sind : Woodrow !, 

 Cooke \ 



The plant has some repute in native medicine. See Watt, Diet. Econ. Prod. 1. c. 



Order XXXI. GERANIACE^. 



Herbs, undershrubs, rarely trees, often glandularly pubescent. Leaves 

 opposite or alternate, rarely entire, often 2-stipulate. Plowers herma- 

 phrodite, regular or irregular, solitary, umbelled, cymose or racemose ; 

 peduncles usually axillary. Sepals 5, rarely fewer, free or united to the 

 middle, usually imbricate, the posticous sometimes spurred, persistent 

 or rarely deciduous. Petals as many as the sepals or fewer (by 

 suppression) or 0, hypogynous or subperigynous, variously imbricate, 

 rarely contorted. Torus scarcely expanded into a disk, with 5 glands 

 alternating \\\i\v the petals, or eglandular, raised in the centre, rarely 

 flat. Stamens as many or twice as many (rarely thrice as many) as the 

 sepals ; filaments filiform or dilated or connate into a ring ; anthers 

 versatile, 2-celled, cells parallel, dehiscing longitudinally. Ovary 3-5- 

 (rarely 2-) lobed, 3-5-celled. Carpels united with the axis as far as the 

 insertion of the ovules, prolonged above into a styliferous beak or into 

 styles which are more or less united ; stigmas capitate, linear or ligu- 

 late ; ovules 1-2 or many in each cell, anatropous, pendulous ; raphe 

 ventral. Pruit capsular, 3-5-lobed ; lobes 1-seedcd, often separating 

 from the axis, septicidal or loculicidal, rarely berried. Seeds pendulous, 

 horizontal or ascending, usually exarillate ; testa membranous, rarely 

 subcrustaceous ; albumen scanty or 0, rarely thick and flesliy ; embryo 

 straight or curved ; cotyledons flat, };lano-convex or variously folded, 

 foliaceous or thick, rarely flc^shy ; radicle short, straight, looking towards 

 the hilum, or longer, inflexed or usually incumbent on the cotyledons. — 

 DiSTRiB. T(!mperate and subtropical regions of both hemispheres; 

 genera 20 ; species about 800. 



Several varieties of the Pclarr/oiiiinn (commonly called Geranium) are cultivated in 

 gardens, where they flourish and bloom extremely well. The genus is not indigenous 

 to India. 



