100 



FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



ground that the spreading- nature of the plant enables 

 it to cover. The leaves are thrown off from the stem 

 in pairs, and are divided into three or five deeply incised 

 segments. The flowers, though rather small, are suffi- 

 ciently bright in colour to attract the eye ; generally a 

 shade of pink, they may at times be met with of a pure 

 white. The flowers always grow, as may be noticed in 

 our illustration, in pairs, hence the plant is sometimes 

 called by country folk, knife and fork. The stems of the 

 Herb-Robert, like those of the^ stitchwort, and some other 

 common plants, are rather brittle, swelling at the joints, 

 and readily snapping at those points. The whole plant has 

 a very strong and somewhat disagreeable smell, noticeable 

 at any time, but especially on bruising the leaves or 

 snapping the stems apart. A small variety, sufficiently dis- 

 tinct in character to have led some writers to class it as a 

 species, is not uncommonly found by the sea-shore. It 

 has been described as the Geranium purpureum, or G. 

 Raii, but its claims to rank as an independent species 

 are scarcely sufficient to justify this complete separation 

 from the G. Robertianum. 



