GERANIUM.] GERANIACE&. 75 



ORDER XX. GERANiACE-ffi (including OXALIDE^E 



and BALSAM I'NE^E). 



Herbs, rarely shrubby. Leaves opposite or alternate, usually stipulate. 

 Inflorescence various ; flowers regular or irregular. Sepals 5 or fewer, 

 imbricate or valvate in bud. Petals 3-5, imbricate in bud. Stamens usually 

 5 in irregular flowers, and 10 in the regular, some often deformed. Disk 

 inconspicuous or glandular. Ovary 3-5-lobed, 3-5-celled, produced upwards 

 into a styliferous beak, or with one or more terminal styles ; ovules 1-2 or 

 many in each cell, anatropous, pendulous, raphe ventral. Fruit septicidal 

 or loculicidal, or separating into cocci. Seeds small, albumen scanty or ; 

 embryo various. DISTRIB. Temp, and trop. , rarely arctic regions ; genera 

 16 ; species 750. AFFINITIES. With Rutacece and Linece. PROPERTIES. 

 Tribe Gcranicce are often astringent, aromatic, and abound in volatile oil. 

 Oxalidece abound in oxalic acid, and some have eatable tubers. 

 TKIBE I. GERANIEJE. Flowers regular. Sepals imbricate. Stamens 



alternating with glands. Capsule beaked, of several 1-seeded awned 



cocci, that separate elastically from the beak. 



Stamens 10, all antheriferous 1. Geranium. 



Stamens 5, staminodes 5 2. Erodium. 



TRIBE II. OXALI DEJE. Flowers regular. Sepals imbricate. Glands 0. 



Capsule loculicidal ; cells 2- or more-seeded 3. Oxalis. 



TRIBE III. BALSAMI'NE^:. Flo-wers irregular. Sepals coloured, pos- 



ticous spurred. Stamens 5. Glands 0. Capsule loculicidal ; cells 2- or 



more-seeded , 4. Impatiens. 



1, GERANIUM, L. CRANE'S-BILL. 



Herbs, rarely shrubs, with swollen nodes. Leaves opposite or alternate, 

 usually cut or lobed, stipulate. Flowers regular, on 1-2-flowered axillary 

 peduncles. Sepals and Petals 5, imbricate in bud. Stamens 10, free or 

 connate at the base, hypogynous. Disk of 5 glands opposite the sepals. 

 Ovary 5-lobed, 5-celled, with a long beak terminated by 5 stigmas ; ovules 

 2 in each cell, superposed. Fruit of 5 dehiscent carpels, terminating 

 upwards in long slender tails, which separate elastically from the styliferous 

 and placentiferous axis. Seeds solitary in the carpels, albumen scanty 

 or ; cotyledons plicate or convolute ; radicle incumbent. DISTRIB. All 

 temp, especially littoral and sandy regions ; species 100. ETYM. yfpavot, 

 a crane, from the form of the fruit. The so-called garden Geraniums are 

 Pelargonia, having irregular flowers, a spurred sepal, perigynous petals, no 

 glands, and few declinate stamens. 



* Perennial. Peduncles 1-flowered. Sepals spreading. 



1. G. sanguin'eum, L. ; pilose, leaves orbicular 5-7-partite, lobes 

 narrow 3-5-fid to the middle, carpels hairy, seeds wrinkled and dotted. 

 Dry rocky places and on sandy shores ; ascends above 1,000 ft. in the High- 

 lands ; local in Ireland ; fl. July-Aug. Rootstock stout, truncate. Stems 

 1-2 ft., geniculate ; hairs spreading. Leaves 1-2 in. diam., segments linear- 

 oblong or lanceolate, obtuse or subacute ; stipules ovate, acute. Flowers 

 1-1 J in. diam., crimson or pink; peduncles very long, 2-bracteate in the 

 middle. Sepals oblong, obtuse, awned. DISTRIB. Europe, W. Asia. 



