96 KEY AND FLORA 



Fruit of 5 carpels, which separate when ripe from the axis, 

 each one with a long, beardless tail, which curls from the bot- 

 tom of the axis to the summit. Most of the plants cultivated 

 as geraniums belong to the genus Pelargonium. 



a. G. inci'sum Nutt. Perennial, with branching, leafy stems, with 

 glandular and hairy pubescence. Flowers large, axillary, on pedicels 

 that are spreading or reflexed in fruit. Petals jmrple, tvoolly on the 

 inner surface. Filaments woolly. Fruit icith the beak glandular. 

 Common in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and extending to Wash- 

 ington and Oregon. It blooms in spring and summer. 



b. G. Richardson'ii F. & M. This is somewhat similar to the 

 preceding, and like it, is perennial. The stems are taller, more 

 slender, and weaker. The flowers are smaller, and always white, 

 though there may be pink veins on the petals. It grows in wet 

 places in the mountains at rather high elevations. 



c. G. Carolinia'num L. Annual, with spreading stems, and gray, 

 somewhat glandular pubescence. Floivers and leaves closely clus- 

 tered at the ends of branchlets, the former small, rose-color, the latter 

 orbicular in outline, but cut into several divisions. Carpels covered 

 with black hairs, beak woolly or glandular. Common and widely 

 distributed. 



d. G. dissec'tum L. Greener than the preceding, and with the 

 leaves cut into narrower and more numerous divisions. Stems weak, 

 often supported on other plants, and frequently growing in wet 

 places. Common, introduced. 



n. ERO'DIUM, Alfilerilla, Filaree' 



This is similar to Geranium; but the filaments are broader, 

 and those opposite the petals are without anthers, the tails 

 of the carpels are bearded on the inner side, and when they 

 break away from the axis they form a spiral. The flowers 

 are usually in umbels with an involucre of 4 bracts, and the 

 petals are small and fall easily. 



a. E. cicuta'rium L'Her. Red-stemmed Filaree. Leaves form- 

 ing a rosette at the base of the stem, compound with many leaflets, 

 which are cut into numerous, narrow, acute lobes ; the stem leaves 

 are small, and shorter than the peduncles. Flowers rose-purple, 

 4-8 in an umbel. The axis on which the carpels are arranged is 

 from 1 to 2 in. long. This is the commonest and most valued 

 " filaree." 



