GERANIACEAE GERANIUM FAMILY 
WILD CRANESBILL 
Geranium maculatum L. 
The Geranium family is distributed throughout the 
world but is of no great importance except for the beauty 
of some of its flowers. The cultivated Geraniums belong 
to the genus Pelar- 
gonium. The spe- 
cies described here : 
gets its common S 
name from the 
long beak, like the ; 
bill of a crane, i 12 
which the styles fe 
form on the fruit. 6) ' 
The Wild Cranes- 
bill or Wild Geranium is common 
in open woods and fields throughout 
the eastern half of the United States 
and Canada. The flowers bloom 
from the latter part of April to the 
end of June, and the earliest fruits 
usually mature before the last 
flowers of the same plant open. 
The erect forking stems rise 1-2 
feet high from a heavy knotted 
underground stem which is power- 
fully astringent. Usually there are 
several basal leaves on long petioles; 
the stem leaves are smaller and sessile or on very short petioles. 
The petals are rose-purple. The 10 stamens are arranged 
in 2 circles of 5; those in the outer circle mature first and the 
pollen is distributed, then the inner stamens mature, and finally 
the 5 stigmas are ready for cross-pollination. The ovary matures 
into a s-celled fruit with 1 seed in each cell. When the fruit 1s 
mature the parts break loose at the base, curl up suddenly and 
discharge the seeds. 
The Carolina Cranesbill, Geranium carolinianum L., is a weedy 
species of dry barren soils throughout Illinois. The stems are 
fleshy, much branched and loosely hairy. The leaves are 5-9-cleft 
into oblong-linear, toothed segments. The pale pink flowers are 
small in compact umbelled clusters. 
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