MELVACE^E GERANIACE^ 313 



A. striatum, Dicks. Flowering maple. Fig. 461. Shrub: leaves 3-5- 

 lobed, green: flowers drooping, on long solitary axillary peduncles, bell- 

 shaped, veiny-orange or red. Brazil. A conservatory and 

 house plant. 



A. Th6mpsoni, Hort. Spotted flowering maple. Like the 

 last, but the leaves spotted with yellow, and the column of 

 stamens strongly projecting from the flower. Common in 

 cultivation. 

 4. HIBISCUS. ROSE MALLOW. 



Herbs or shrubs, with an involucre of many narrow bracts: 

 stamen-column anther-bearing most of its length: styles 5, 

 united: pod 5-loculed, loculicidal: flowers large and showy. 461 - Abutilon 



H. Syriacus, Linn. Althea of cultivated grounds. Rose striatum - 

 of Sharon. Shrub 10 ft. : leaves wedge-ovate and 3-lobed : flowers showy, 

 in various colors, in the leaf-axils in summer and fall, often double. Asia. 



XIV. GERANIACE^JE. GERANIUM FAMILY. 



Herbs, chiefly with simple leaves : flowers perfect, in most genera 

 nearly regular (but sometimes very irregular), 5-merous : stamens as 

 many or twice as many as the sepals, hypogynous: ovary single, the 

 locules usually as many as the sepals : fruit capsular. A most diverse 

 family, often divided into several. There are about 20 genera and 700 

 species. Common examples are geranium, pelargonium, nasturtium, 

 balsam, jewel- weed or touch-me-not, oxalis. 



A. Flowers regular or very nearly so. 

 B. Leaves simple (often deeply lobed). 



c. Anther-bearing stamens 10 1. Geranium 



cc. Anther-bearing stamens about 7 2. Pelargonium 



BB. Leaves compound 3. Oxalis 



AA. Flowers very irregular. 



B. Flower with one very long spur 4. Tropceolum 



BB. Flower hanging by its middle, with a short hooked spur. 5. Impatiens 



1. GERANIUM. CRANESBILL. 



Small herbs with forking stems and 1-3-flowered peduncles : sepals and 

 petals 5 : glands on the torus 5, alternating with the petals : stamens 10, 

 usually all of them with perfect anthers : fruit 5 1-seeded carpels separat- 

 ing from the axis from the base upwards and curling outwards. 



G. maculatum, Linn. Common wild cranesbill. Fig. 181. Perennial, 

 1-2-ft., hairy erect: leaves orbicular, deeply 5-7-parted: petals entire, hairy 

 on the claw: flower rose-purple, 1 in. across. Common; spring. 



G. Kobertianum, Linn. Herb Robert. Annual or biennial, 1 ft. or some- 

 times less, somewhat hairy, spreading: leaves 3- or 5-divided into pinnatifld 

 divisions: fls. % in. or less across, pink-red. Moist places; common. 



