Classification of Plants 317 



Protandrous, but the stigmas in small flowers may roll 

 back and effect self pollination. 



A. Flowers regular. 



Monsonia. — Stamens 15, in groups of three. Annuals or 

 perennials with usually deeply cut leaves. Peduncles with two 

 bracts above the middle, and one, two, or several flowers in 

 umbels. Flowers large and showy, usually pink or marked 

 with pink. Rootstock often perennial. 



Sarcocaulon. — Stamens 15, monadelphous. Much- 

 branched, fleshy rigid shrubs, armed with spines, formed from 

 old petioles. The stem is covered with a thick coating of wax 



Fig. 291. — Sarcocaulon Marlothii, Eng., ixom. Die NatUrlichen PJlantzen- 

 familien. 



and burns with a pleasant odour. Found in very dry places 

 of Eastern and North-Eastern districts. 



Geranium. — Stamens 10, the alternate longer, with honey 

 glands at the base. Herbaceous plants, with alternate or op- 

 posite leaves, palmately lobed. A small genus from the 

 Peninsula to Natal. Fruits explosive when splitting. 



Erodium. — Flowers regular, outer whorl of stamens 

 sterile, inner with anthers and a gland at the base of each. 

 Flowers mostly in cymose umbels. Common weeds with 

 simple, usually pinnate parted or cut leaves. The styles twist 

 like a corkscrew on drying, and are caught fast in the weeds. 

 When rain comes they uncoil, and as they lengthen push the 



