76 THE STORY. OF | PLANT tire 
ribbed, with valvate tips, and imbricate. The 
peduncles are longer than the leaves. The petals, 
which have a claw, are five also, and in the bud 
slightly twisted. The stamens are two or three 
times the number of the petals united with filaments. 
The carpels are five or variable around the awn- 
like beak, to which the five styles are united, and 
there are five stigmas, with five capsules containing 
one seed each ; the fruit being a schizocarp, the carpel 
splits off from the beak with the persistent style 
attached, which, curling up, being hygroscopic, assists 
in hurling the seed to a distance by a balistic or cata- 
pult motion. 
In the Stork’s Bill the leaves are pinnate, the plant 
decumbent as a rule, and five of the stamens are 
abortive, being small with flattened filaments, with- 
out anthers, and opposite the petals in the outer 
whorl. 
In Pelargonium the flowers are irregular and 
possess a spur formed from the posterior sepal of the 
calyx, which is straight and adhering to the peduncle. 
In the corolla there are usually three petals which 
differ from the two upper larger ones. Only three 
of the outer stamens are abortive. 
THE MEADOW CRANE’S BILL (Geranium pratense). 
Few wild plants are so attractive as the Meadow 
Crane’s Bill, which is worthy of a place in the garden 
without any embellishment by long cultivation, such 
as many of our garden favourites have required before: 
