190 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



Sub-Order I.— GEPtANIE^E. 



FloAvers regulai* or irregular. Sepals herbaceous, persistent, 

 free, equal or the uppermost one spurred at the base. Petals 

 caducous, free. Stamens 10 (rarely 15), with frequently some of 

 them without anthers ; filaments often dilated and united into a 

 short ring- at the base. Torus produced beyond the insertion of 

 the ovules, forming an axis to which the beaks of the carpels are 

 attached. Carpels 5 in number, 1-seeded, separating from the axis 

 with elasticity when ripe. Albumen none. Radicle bent.* 



GENUS I.—G E R A N I U M. Zinn. 



Flowers regular. Sepals 5, persistent, free, imbricated, the 

 ujjper one not spurred. Petals 5. Glands 5, alternate with the 

 petals. Stamens 10, generally all antheriferous, rarely 5 of the 

 filaments without anthei"s. Capsule consisting of 5 separable 

 cocca with long beaks which are glabrous on the inner face. Axis 

 forming a central column, from which the beaks of the difi'erent 

 carpels separate and roll ujj from the base towards the apex 

 without twisting like a corkscrew. 



Annual or perennial herbs (rarely undershrubs), often more or 

 less hairy. Stems enlarged at the joints. Leaves palmately veined 

 and palmately lobed, cut or divided ; the lower ones on long stalks ; 

 the uppermost ones sessile ; those on the upper part of the stem 

 opposite. Peduncles in the forks of the stem or occasionally axil- 

 lary by the suppression of the hranches of the cyme on one side, 

 bracteated at the apex, 2-flowered, more rarely 1-flowered. Plowers 

 purple, rose, lilac, or white, often veined, on pedicels which are 

 generally refiexed after flowering, but incurved at the apex, so 

 that the young fruit is erect. 



The name of this genus comes from tlie Greek word ytpaioc {(jeninos), a crane, 

 because the long beak which terminates the carpels resembles the bill ui the crane. 



* Although I have followed Dr. Hooker and Mr. Bentliam in tlie definition of 

 Geraniacere, 1 have thought it better to restiict Geraniese to the order Geraiiiaceie as 

 commonly received, which differs from the Geranieas of tlie above-mentioned authors 

 by the exclusion of Biebersteinia and the addition of Pelargonium, as given at page 

 271 of " Genera Plantariim." 



