606 



GE R 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



G E R 



the pulp is soft, sweet, yellowish, has a nauseous smell, and 

 stains the hands with a rust colour, not easily washed out; 

 the nut or stone is whitish, adheres close to the pulp, and 

 contains a white kernel that has a farinaceous astringent 

 taste. A plant with papilionaceous flowers, and a drupe 

 for a fruit, is certainly a great singularity. Native of Car- 

 thagena in New Spain. 



2. Geoffroya Inermis; Smooth Gcoffroya. Without 

 thorns: leaflets lanceolate. This tree rises to a considerable 

 height, and towards the top sends off several branches ; the 

 wood is hard enough to admit of being polished. The ex- 

 ternal bark is smooth and gray, internally it is black and 

 furrowed ; leaves pinnate ; leaflets opposite, oblong, ovate, 

 or lanceolate, acuminate, smooth above, nerveless beneath, 

 on short petioles ; flowers in clusters, upon large branched 

 spikes; calix very slightly five-parted, with short ovate divi- 

 sions; corolla pale rose-colour; keel of the corolla ovate, 

 spreading, very slightly divided into two parts. The fruit is 

 a large subovate drupe, enclosing a woody nut. Native of 

 .Jamaica, where it has the name of Cabbage-bark, or Worm- 

 bark-tree. The bark, which has a mucilaginous sweetish 

 taste, and a disagreeable smell, was first noticed as a vermi- 

 fuge by Mr. Peter Duguid ; but Dr. Wright, who resided a 

 long time in Jamaica, has communicated the fullest informa- 

 tion concerning this tree: according to him, the bark is 

 powerfully medicinal, and itsanthelminthic effects have been 

 established at Jamaica by long experience. It may be ad- 

 ministered in decoction, syrup, powder, or extract; but 

 must be cautiously used, in small doses at first, gradually 

 increasing them as the case may require. 



Geranium ; a genus of the class Monadelphia, order De- 

 candria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : five-leaved; 

 leaflets ovate, acute, concave, permanent. Corolla: petals 

 five, obcordate or ovate, spreading, regular; nectary five 

 honied glands, fastened to the base of the longer filamenta. 

 Stamina: filamenta ten, awl-shaped, connected slightly at 

 the base, spreading at top, shorter than the corolla; antherte 

 oblong, versatile. Pistil : germen five-cornered, beaked ; 

 style awl-shaped, longer than the stamina, permanent; stig- 

 mas five, reflex. Pericarp: capsule five-grained, beaked; 

 the cells opening inwards, each having a simple naked tail 

 fixed to it. Seeds: solitary, ovate-oblong. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Calix: five-leaved. Corolla: five-petalled, 

 regular; nectary five honied glands, fastened to the base of 

 the longer filamenta. Fruit: five-grained, beaked; beaks 

 simple, naked, neither spiral nor bearded. This genus, as 

 constituted by Linneus, having become very unwieldy through 

 modern discoveries, it is found very convenient to divide it; 

 and a division is commodiously made from this remarkable 

 circumstance; namely, that in some *pecies all the ten fila- 

 menta are fertile; whilst in others, three or even five of them 

 are castrated, as Linneus terms it, that is, are destitute of 

 antheree. Hence three genera are now constituted out of 

 one genus: Erodium, with five fertile stamina only; Pelar- 

 gonium, with seven ; and this, retaining the old name, with 

 all the ten fertile. There are also other marks of discrimina- 

 tion, recited in their respective essential characters. These 

 three artificial genera or families, however, form but one na- 

 tural family, agreeing in their five-leaved calices, their five- 

 petalled corollas, their pentacoccous rostrated fruits, and 

 their general habit and structure. They also agree in their 

 inflorescence, the peduncles being curved downwards before 

 flowering-time,; but when the flowers are about to open, the. 

 general peduncle first, and then each pedicel, becoming erect. 

 The annual sorts of Geranium may be increased by seeds; 

 and if these be permitted to scatter, the plants will come up 



without any further care. The perennial sorts, which are 

 more numerous, may be increased the same way, or by part- 

 ing the roots in autumn. They may be pluiiK-d in almost 

 any soil or situation, and require no other culture but to 

 keep them clean from weeds. Many of them, indeed, are 

 common weeds, but even some of these have beauty enough 

 to recommend them to a place in a garden, particularly tlit 

 second, eighteenth, twenty-first, and twenty-second sp 

 Most of the Erodiums are also hardy, and may be increased 

 in the same manner; the annual sorts by seeds, and the per- 

 ennial by dividing the roots. Some of them require the 

 protection of a green-house. The seeds of the Gluucophyl- 

 lum should be sown on a moderate hot-bed in spring ; and 

 when the weather is warm, the plants should be carefully 



transplanted on a sheltered border. The species are, 



* Peduncles onc-Jlowered. 



1. Geranium Sibiricuni; Siberian Crane's Bill. Pedun- 

 cles commonly one-flowered; leaves five-parted, acute; leaf- 

 lets pinnatifid ; root perennial ; stem herbaceous, annual, 

 diffusely dichotomous, jointed, almost round and smooth. 

 At the divisions on each side, is a lanceolate acuminate sti- 

 pule; calicine leaflets somewhat hirsute, with short awns; 

 petals pale purplish, without any streaks, scarcely longer 

 than the calix, either quite entire, or slightly tmarginate. 

 It flowers in June, and is a native of Siberia. 



2. Geranium Sanguineum; Bloody Crane's Bill. Pedun- 

 cles one-flowered ; leaves five-parted, trifid, orbiculate ; root 

 perennial, somewhat woody. The whole plant set with 

 white spreading hairs; stems a footer more in height, lax, 

 spreading, branched, round, jointed, swelling at the joints; 

 calicine leaflets oval, with membranaceous reddish edges, 

 and terminated by a short red awn ; petals obcordate, vx-rv 

 large, pale red, with deeper veins, hairy at the base. The 

 whole plant frequently turns red or purple after flowering. 

 Native of many parts of Europe, in thickets and rocky pas- 

 tures, flowering most part of the summer, and often intro- 

 duced into gardens, as an ornamental plant. Mr. Miller 

 insists, that the Lancashire Bloody Crane's Bill is a distinct 

 species; the plants, which he raised from seeds, luung 

 always continued the same. The stalks are shorter, and 

 spread flat on the ground; the leaves are much less, and not 

 so deeply divided; and the flowers are much smaller, of a 

 pale colour, marked with purple. It grows naturally in 

 Lancashire and Westmoreland. There are also other varie- 

 ties of this species, but none of sufficient importance to be 

 inserted here. 



3. Geranium Spinosum; Shining Crane's Bill. Peduncles 

 one-flowered; stem fleshy, knobbed; spines solitary, strict. 

 This is a low succulent plant; root simple, scarcely fibrous; 

 stem suffruticose, erect, branched, fenced all round with 

 broad, smooth, irregular tubercles, from the centre of which 

 arises a long sharp black spine; leaves opposite, subsessii. . 

 wedge-shaped, reflex, siuuate-creuate ; flowers solitary, p. - 

 duncled ; calix awned ; corolla purple, spreading, larger tiian 

 the calix ; petals quite entire. Native of the Cape. 



4. Geranium Emarginatum. Peduncles one-flowered ; leaves 

 ovate, emarginate, crenate. Native of the Cape. 



"Peduncles two-flowered, shrubby. 



5. Geranium Anemonifolium ; Smooth Crane's Bill. 

 Leaves palmate; leaflets pinnatifid; stem shrubby. The 

 whole plant is remarkably smooth. From a thick root arises 

 a very short stem, the thickness of a finger, and succulent, 

 whence spring branches two feet long, with very long leaf- 

 less internodes ; root and stem-leaves numerous, subpeltate, 

 palmate, five-lobed ; lobes pinnate ; pinnules gashed, having 

 little notches ending in a very short awn ; petioles longer 



