192 



GERAXIACEAE. 



2. PELARGONIUM L 'Her. 



Mostly perennial herbs, sometimes woody, the leaves various, the flowers 

 clustered. Sepals 5, unequal, one of them with a spur adnate to the pedicel. 

 Petals usually 5, the two upper somewhat larger than the 3 lower. Stamens 

 10, not all anther-bearing. Ovary beaked by the compound style, the styles 

 pubescent on the inner side, coiling when separating from the axis. Seeds 

 smooth, pitted or wrinkled. [Greek, the fruit similar to the bill of a stork.] 

 Perhaps 200 species, mostly natives of South Africa. Type species: Pelar- 

 gonium hirsutum (L.) Soland. 



1. Pelargonium capitatum (L.) L'Her. 

 Capitate Garden Geeaxium. (Fig. 213.) 

 Spreading or trailing, somewhat woody, the 

 branches 1° long or more, pubescent with long 

 hairs. Leaves orbicular to reniform, 2'-3' 

 wide, shallowly lobed, the lobes rounded and 

 toothed, the petioles as long as the blades or 

 shorter; umbels axillary, long-peduncled, capi- 

 tate; petals purple, about 6" long; carpels 

 about 2" long, pubescent ; seeds finely wrinkled. 

 [Geranium capitatum L.] 



Borders of woods, Paynter's Yale, 1909. Nat- 

 uralized. Native of southei*n Africa. Occasionally 

 planted for ornament. Naturalized in southern 

 California. 



Many kinds of Garden Geraniums of this 

 genus, especially double-flowered races, grow 

 luxuriantly in Bermuda gardens, with flowers 

 from white to scarlet. Most of these are hy- 

 brids between P. sonale and P. inquinans. 



Pelargonium peltatum (L.) Ait., Ivy-leaved Geranium, South African, 

 a trailing or straggling species, with succulent foliage, somewhat zigzag stems 

 about 2°, long, slender-petioled peltate 5-lobed nearly orbicular leaves IV-S' 

 broad, and long few-flowered peduncles, the red to white petals about twice 

 as long as the calyx, is occasionally gi-own in flower-gardens. 



Pelargonium exstipulatum Ait., also South African, is a bushy species 

 li°-2° high, with slender-petioled, finely velvety, subcordate shallowly 3-lobed 

 and toothed leaves about 1' broad, and few white flowers, the petals about V 

 long. A plant agreeing with the description of this species was observed in 

 the Montrose garden m 1913. 



Pelargonium terebinthinaceum (Cav.) J. K. Small, Eose Geranium, 

 South African, commonly planted, is strong-scented, pubescent, 2°-3° high, with 

 petioled leaves nearly orbicular in outline, palmately 3-7-lobed, with toothed 

 or pinnatifid segments; the pink or purplish flowers are in peduncled cymes, 

 the petals 6' -8" long. [Geranium tereMnthinaceum Cav.; P. graveolens Ait.] 



