THALAMIFLOR 77 
attaining their present state of perfection. Thus 
Nature has here displayed her own inimitable power 
of surpassing man’s art, achieved as it must neces- 
sarily be by artificial methods which are foreign to 
her unwritten laws. 
The Meadow Crane’s Bill is found in nearly every 
county except in some of the south-eastern and 
Welsh counties and in Scotland. It also ascends 
to an altitude of 1800 ft. 
As the second Latin and first English names imply, 
this Geranium isat home in the meadow and pasture. 
It is perhaps more usually found in wet meadows, 
especially in lowland districts along the side of a 
stream or river, or in ditches and similar moist 
habitats. Where similar conditions exist at higher 
altitudes it is also found. 
With it grow usually Meadow Sweet, several 
Willow herbs, Cowslip, Yellow Rattle, Self Heal, 
Bugle, Spotted Orchis and other plants. 
The root is fibrous, witha thick rhizome. Meadow 
Crane’s Bill is tall and erect with the inversely 
pyramidal habit of the Geranium. The foliage is 
abundant with large leaves on long petioles, much 
divided, the upper ones sessile, borne upon terete, 
downy stems, which are branched above and tinged 
_ with red. 
The deep blue flowers are corymbose, with stamens 
triangular below, smooth and tapering. The capsules 
are clothed with spreading hairs, glandular, with 
netted seeds. The fruit-stalks are deflexed. 
