128 The Romance of Wild Flowers 
whole plant led our forefathers to dub it Robwort, 
that is Redwort, and no doubt by a process of elision 
familiar enough to those who have mixed much 
with our rural population, the w in Robwort was 
omitted, leaving Rob’ort to puzzle a later generation, 
that spelled it Robert, and wondered whether the 
name signified that the plant had been dedicated to 
a St. Robert. Linneus regarded it as a personal 
name, and gave it a Latin termination by which the 
plant will continue to be known. The flower illus- 
trates the ease with which an entire difference in 
the form may be effected. All the species of 
Geranium already described have spreading sepals— 
that is, they stand out at right angles with the foot- 
stalk, but in Herb-Robert and the Shining Crane’s- 
bill (G. lucidum) the sepals maintain an_ erect 
position, so that they produce a false tube, as in 
Wallflower and some members of the Pink family. 
The stigmas and anthers mature together, but insects 
are still invited to help shake the pollen on the 
stigmas, or even to bring a little from another flower. 
We know they are still invited, because the petals 
bear honey-guides in the shape of streaks pointing 
down the tube, and there are no hairs upon the 
claws of the petals to interfere with their tongues 
reaching the five globules of honey. 
So much for the flowers of the genus Geranium, 
which all share the habit of turning their faces to 
the sun: we shall still find a point or two of interest 
in the fruit and the mechanism for seed distribution. 
The ovary consists of five carpels which are ranged 
round a central axis growing up from the receptacle 
and between the styles. When the seeds and carpels 
