GERANIUM TRIBE 155 



possessed by the Geranium, and a fragrant essential oil has been distilled 

 from PeJargmium odorafissimian, which is said somewhat to resemble attar of 

 roses, and to be quite as pleasant. Another species of this genus, Pelargonium 

 citcullatwn, has been regarded as an emollient, and the ground tubercles of 

 P. hirsutum are esculent, and much prized by the Arabs as food. The leaves 

 of the common scarlet Geranivmi, the bright flowers of Avhich are to be seen 

 in many a cottage window, have in some works on medical botany been 

 much extolled as remedies to be laid upon the wound inflicted by any sharp 

 instrument. The whole tribe is innocuous, but their chief value consists in 

 the lovely flowers with which they deck our lanes and meadows, or, as in 

 the Pelargoniums, with which they grace our gardens, rooms, and green- 

 houses. 



1. Crane's-bill (Gerdnium). — Petals regular ; stamens 10, 5 of which are 

 alternately larger, and have glands at the base; fruit beaked, separating 

 into 5 capsules, each with a long awn, which is naked (not bearded) on the 

 inside. Name from the Greek gSranos, a crane, from a fancied resemblance 

 of the fruit to the beak of that bird. 



2. Stork's-bill (Erddium). — Petals regular; stamens 10, of which 5 are 

 imperfect ; glands 5 at the base of the perfect stamens ; fruit beaked, 

 separating into 5 capsiiles, each with a long spiral awn, bearded on the 

 inside. Name from the Greek erodion, a heron, from the resemblance of the 

 fruit to the beak of that bird. 



1. Crane's-bill (Gerdnium). 



* Flower-stalks single-flowered. 



1. Bloody Crane's-bill (G. sangidneum). — Root-leaves nearly round, 

 with 7 deeply-cut lobes, each of which is 3-cleft ; stem-leaves 5 or 3-lobed. 

 Plant perennial. This species is, from May to September, so beautiful with 

 its large flowers of bright purple, that we regret that it is not more frequent. 

 It produces a large quantity of foliage ; its stem is hairy, swelling at the 

 joints, and about a foot or a foot and a half high. Though not a common 

 flower, it grows abundantly on some limestone and magnesian soils. In a 

 very interesting paper, written by Mr. W. Thompson, on the relation 

 between geological strata and the plants growing on their superincumbent 

 soils, the author remarks :- — "The basaltic ranges claim certain species, which,' 

 if not peculiar to them, are at least more luxuriant when they are grown 

 upon whinstone soil. The native Gerania I have always found thriving best 

 in such districts. Geranium sanguineum, the most elegant of the genus, is 

 richer in its tints and stronger near Edinburgh and on the Carrick shore of 

 Ayrshire than anywhere else throughout the whole range of m}'- botanical 

 excursions. On mountain lime it is slender and straggling ; on the basaltic 

 ledges of Salisbury Crags, and beneath the scaurs of the Ayrshire whin, it 

 exhibits the same dense bed of flowers, with a thickness of stem, compact- 

 ness of leaf, and a hairiness of clothing so different, as almost to mark it out 

 as specifically distinct from the G. sanguineum of North Wales, and its lakes. 

 The G. sanguineum of Carrick extends nearly a mile along the shore, in one 

 continued tract of beauty, exhibiting a luxuriance superior to that of any 



20—2 



