1001 



GERANIACE^E. 



GERMINATION. 



1C02 



which Cuvier reduced, and published in his ' Osseuiens Fossiles ;' 

 Summering however thought that the bones belonged to a, young 

 individual of the Maastricht animal (Mososaurus.) 



The bones were nearly calcined. Near the remains of the Saurian 

 were a flat ammonite 4 inches in width, a fragment of bluish shell, 

 and a great quantity of small scales, which, according to Siimmering's 

 conjecture, belonged either to fishes or perhaps to the animal itself, if 

 it was a Monitor, or some other lizard with small scales. 



The localities given by Hermann von Meyer are the Flb'tz ; Solen- 

 hofen slate (Schiefer von Solenhofen) ; and, with reference to another 

 specimen (with a query), for which he refers to Dekay, ' Ann. of the 

 Lye. of New York,' vol. iii., the marl of the Greensand in New Jersey 

 (Mergel des Griiusandes in New Jersey). 



The original specimens figured and described by Summering are 

 now in the collection of the British Museum (Wall-one A. B., 'Mantell 

 Fossils of the British Museum,' p. 175). 



GERANIACE.E, Crarutlrills, a natural order of Exogenous Plants, 

 consisting chiefly of herbaceous plants or shrubs. They have tumid 

 stems separable at the points. The leaves are cither opposite or 

 alternate ; in the latter case opposite the peduncles, with membranous 

 stipules. The flowers are white, red, yellow, or purple. The sepals 

 5, persistent, ribbed, more or less unequal, with an imbricated festi- 

 vation, sometimes saccate or spurred at the base. The petals 5, 

 seldom 4, in consequence of one being abortive, unguiculate, twisted in 

 :i'.-tivation, equal or unequal, either hypogynous or perigynous. The 

 .-.tainenu usually monadelpbous, hypogynous, twice or thrice as many 

 as the petals ; some occasionally abortive. The ovary composed of 5 

 carpels, placed round a long awl-shaped torus or growing point, each 

 1-celled, 2 seided ; styles 5, cohering round the torus, and separable 

 from it ; ovules semiauatropal, adhering to the torus. The fruit 

 formed of five shells, cohering round a long beaked torus, each piece 

 containing one seed, having a membranous pericarp, and terminated 

 by an indurated style, which finally curls back from the base upwards, 

 carrying the pericarp along with it. The seeds solitary, without 

 albumen. The embryo curved and doubled up, the radicle pointing to 

 the base of the cell ; cotyledons foliaceous, convolute, and plaited. The 

 long beak-like torus round which the carpels are arranged, and the 

 presence of membranous stipules at joints which are usually tumid, are 

 true marks of this order, and all plants not possessing these peculiarities 

 must be excluded. Among them is a South American genus called 

 JUiyncltolheca, which has been even elevated into a natural order, but 

 which, according to Lindley, is surely an oxalid without petals, for the 

 beak observed in its fruit belongs to the carpels and not to the torus. 

 It is clear that in this order the ovules do not spring from the margins 

 of the carpcllary leaves. The species, about 500 in number, are very 

 unequally distributed over various parts of the world. A great pro- 

 potion is found at the Cape of Good Hope, chiefly of the genus 

 /finium. Erodium and Geranium are chiefly natives of Europe, 

 North America, and Northern Asia. Pelargonium is found in Aus- 

 tralia. An astringent principle and an aromatic or resinous flavour 

 are the characteriotics of the order. Gtranium and Erodium are used 

 MI nirdirim-. Pelargonium is remarkable for its beautiful flowers; 

 it is nevertheless astringent in iU properties. The affinities of 

 (leraniacere arc with Jialsaminacea, Oj:alidace:e, and 

 (Lindlcy, Vujrlalle Kimjdum.) 



Geranium prattnte. 



1, a mnrnlflcd calyx, In the ctntrc of which li the rostrum, or licak, from 

 which the cocci are rolling back. 



GERA'NIUM, Cranesbill (from yipavos, crime : the long beak which 

 terminates the capsules resembles the bill of a crane), a genus of 



Plants the type of the natural order GeraniaceR. The flowers have 

 5 petals and 5 sepals, 10 inonadelphous stamens, alternately larger, 

 and with glands at their base. There are 79 species of this genus 

 enumerated, of which 13 are British; of these only two are applied 

 to any useful or medicinal purpose. 



G. Robertianum has 2-flowered peduncles ; obovate, entire, or slightly 

 emarginate petals ; very long glabrous claws ; transversely wrinkled 

 downy capsules, smooth seeds, ternate agrimate leaves, jind stalked 

 trind inciso-piunatifid leaflets. This plant has small bright crimson 

 flowers, and is found on waste ground, walls, and banks in Great 

 Britain, in Brazil, and Chili. The whole herb has a strong disagree- 

 able smell, which is said to be a preventive against bugs. Atlecoction 

 of the plant is recommended as likely to give relief in calculous cases. 

 It contains tannin, and exerts an astringent action on the system, and 

 is given to cattle in some diseases. 



G. maculatum, Spotted Crauesbil!, has a rather angular stem 

 covered with retrograde pubescence ; 3-5-parted leaves with deeply- 

 toothed lobes ; obovate entire petals ; the filaments of the stamens 

 hardly ciliated at the base. This species is a native of North 

 America, from Canada to North Carolina. The flowers are of a pale 

 lilac colour. On account of the astringent nature of this plant, it is 

 known in some parts of North America as Alum-Root, and is employed 

 successfully as a remedy in dysentery among children, a disease very 

 prevalent in the parts of the country where it grows. The tincture 

 is recommended in cases of ulcerated sore-throat and soreness of the 

 gums, &c. Dr. Bigelow discovered the presence of large proportions 

 of tannin and gallic acid in this plant. The quantity of tannin 

 appears to be greater than that 'of any other constituent. 

 The other British species are : 



G. phacitm has 2-flowered peduncles, roundish wedge-shaped petals, 

 rather longer than the mucronate sepals; carpels hairy below, 

 transversely wrinkled above ; seeds punctate, striate. It is found in 

 woods and thickets, rarely. 



G. nodosum has obcordate long petioles, awned sepals, even downy 

 carpels; leaves 3- to 5-lobed, lobes ovate, acuminate, serrate. It is 

 found in Cumberland and Hertfordshire. 



G. iyhaticum has 2-flowered peduncles, obovate slightly-notched 

 long petals, awned sepals, dotted seeds, palmate 7-lobed leaves. The 

 filaments of the stamens subulate, fruit-stalks erect. 



G. pratense has 2-flowered peduncles, the 'carpels even, hairy, the 

 hairs spreading, glandular; seeds minutely reticulated; the filaments 

 of the stamens filiform, with a triangular ovate base; the fruit-stalk 

 deflexed. 



G. sanguineum has peduncles mostly single-flowered; carpels smooth, 

 crowned with a few bristles ; leaves nearly round, 7-lobed ; stem 

 diffuse, hairy the hairs spreading horizontally. 



G. pyrenaicum has obcordate petals, twice as long as the mticrouate 

 sepals ; claws densely ciliated ; stem erect, villose. 



G. putillum has bifid petioles, about equalling the mucrouate sepals ; 

 claws slightly ciliated; carpels with adpressed hairs ; seeds smooth; 

 stem diffuse, downy. 



G. dissfctum has smooth carpels with erect hairs, reticulated seeds; 

 stem diffuse, hairy ; leaves divided almost to the base, longer than 

 the peduncles. 



G. columbinum has obovate emarginate petioles, ciliated claws ; the 

 carpels smooth, with a few minute scattered hairs ; the peduncles 

 longer than the leaves ; pedicels very long. 



G. rotundifolium has spathulate petals, entire, obtuse, rather longer 

 than the shortly-awued sepals ; claws glabrous ; carpels smooth, with 

 spreading hail's; seeds reticulated. 



G: molle has oblong deeply-bifid petioles, ciliated claws ; carpels 

 transversely wrinkled, glabrous ; seeds smooth ; flowers small and 

 purple. 



G. lucidum has obovate entire petals ; claws glabrous, very long, 

 nearly equalling the transversely rugose pyramidal calyx ; carpels 

 reticulated, triply keeled. 



G. tuberosum, a plant growing in the south of Europe, particularly 

 in Italy and Silesia, is the yepdviov of Dioscorides (iii. 121), and the 

 Geranium tertium of Pliny (xxvi. 11). 



The hardy perennial kinds of Geranium are very beautiful plants, 

 and well adapted for ornamental cultivation. They will thrive in 

 any common garden soil with ordinary care. 



(Don, Iticldamydeous Plants ; Babiugtou, Manual of British Botany ; 

 Fraas, Synopsis Plantarum, Florae Clasticce.) 

 GERBILLUS. [MURID.E.] 

 GERFALCON. [FALCONID.E.] 

 GERMEN. [PISTIL.] 



GERMINATION, the first growth of a seed, the act by which it 

 exchanges the condition of an embryo for that of a young plant. The 

 embryo of a plant is folded up in the inside of a seed, and is either 

 a short double cone on which two or more cotyledons are fixed, or a 

 simple more or less cylindrical body having no apparent distinction 

 between the cotyledons and the axis. [SEED.] It has moreover 

 little other than a cellular organisation, very often not possessing a 

 trace of the complicated vascular and tubular structure afterwards 

 developed. The act of unfolding, breaking through the integuments 

 of the seed, and acquiring a vascular and tubular as well as cellular 

 organisation, is germination. When a seed is placed in a moist 



