138 THE NATURE-STUDY OF PLANTS 
But to return to the Cranesbills, with which I 
will deal first, confining myself strictly to the British 
species. 
Most of them grow in much the same sort of 
place, and should be looked for in meadows, hedge- 
rows and on waste ground; they all have a strong 
family resemblance and a similar life-history. 
Five of them are perennial, including the Meadow* 
and the Dusky Cranesbill, to both of which I shall 
refer in the sequel; the other seven are annual or 
biennial, dying after their one and only flowering and 
fruiting season, and all these latter have small blossoms 
frequently less than half an inch in diameter, whereas 
the perennial species with the exception of the 
Mountain Cranesbill,t produce flowers of larger size, 
those of the Bloody Cranesbill t being sometimes as 
much as an inch and a half across. 
Again, all of them are more or less hairy, including 
the Shining Cranesbill § in my own garden, although 
it is sometimes described as glabrous. As a matter of 
fact, as a seedling and in the rosette stage the leaves 
of my plants have plenty of hairs, nor are the flowering 
shoots altogether devoid of them. 
I need not dwell upon the root system, which does 
not differ from what is usual for annual or biennial 
and perennial plants respectively. 
The shape of the cotyledons, so far as I am 
acquainted with them, is very uniform, and the same 
may be said of the foliage leaves, except that those of 
the Herb Robert are five angled, and not so plainly 
circular in outline as the others. 
Again, all our species seem to be more or less, 
* Geranium pratense, Linn. t Geranium pyrenaicum, Linn, 
t Geranium sanguineum, Linn. § Geranium lucidum, Linn. 
