PELARGONIUM 



PELARGONIUM 



2520 



50 night temperature (slightly less in midwinter), 

 from October onward. 



After the turn of the days in January repot them, 

 using now a richer compost. Give a fairly good shift, 

 depending in part on the size of plants desired, the 

 vigor they show, and the difference in varieties. If 

 wanted to bloom in April 

 or, as some florists might, at 

 Easter, they should have 

 been potted at once in late 

 August or September into 

 the size they should bloom 

 in, a medium size, prob- 

 ably the same as they had 

 lately occupied, and have 



pollination has any effect, as the seedlings seldom show 

 any particular affinity to either parent. 



INDEX. 



2841. Pelargonium odoratissimum 

 (Natural size). No. 15. 



been taken indoors to grow 

 on continuously. But for dis- / 

 play in May and June, they 



are potted again in January, and some plants may be 

 gi%-en another shift when extra vigor or the possible 

 need of a few extra-large specimens demand it. They 

 will need careful stopping. Some rubbing out of weak 

 shoots, when they break abundantly, will help those 

 that remain, and one may even have to do a little 

 pruning. Stopping, however, must be discontinued as 

 soon as the flowering stems begin to show, which is 

 about the end of February in the writer's practice. 

 These stems can be distinguished easily by a slightly 

 different manner of growth. Up to this time the plants 

 may be allowed to grow naturally; but if the gardener 

 wants trained specimens he must begin to bend them 

 as he wishes them to grow, as their growth speedily 

 hardens and the plant will readily take and keep the 

 form to which it is shaped. 



Water should be given sparingly through the dead 

 of winter. February and March are the months when 

 the most growth is made, and at this time one may 

 stimulate them materially by the judicious use of 

 artificial manures, which may be continued, if necessary, 

 until they come into bloom. They are much subject to 

 the attacks of green-fly and red-spider; and as the foli- 

 age is fairly tender and liable to injury from tobacco 

 smoke, reliance must be placed on fluid insecticides 

 almost wholly. The blooming season is very much 

 lengthened by giving a slight degree of shade. 



The best time to take cuttings is soon after the flower- 

 ing season. Often toward the last of the season, the 

 plants make a few "growing" shoots, and these may 

 be taken; but off and on during the summer one can 

 get cuttings, and any time until August will do. Cut- 

 tings taken in winter-time with a heel make pretty 

 little plants in 4- or 5-inch pots without stopping. Cut- 

 tings taken at the usual time and grown in 6- or 7- 

 inch pots come in handy in grouping for the front lines. 

 It is necessary to raise a few plants every season to 

 replace older plants which have grown too large. 



New varieties are raised from seed, which is freely 

 produced. In hybridizing it does not appear that hand- 



I. Lvs. on the pinnate order, although sometimes entire, 

 usually pinnately lobed or compound. (Nos. 1-ff). 



A. Plant with short, more or less succulent st. and tuberous 

 or thickened roots: Ivs. pinnate or pinnately parted, 

 long-petioled: fls. in many-fld. dense umbels, on 

 very short pedicels; petals 5, nearly equal; stamens 

 6-7, one filament broad. (Polydctium.) 



1. triste, Ait. (Geranium triste, Linn. G. pastinacae- 

 folium and P. vittosum, Mill.). St. or caudex very short, 

 succulent: Ivs. large, 2-3 pinnately compound, pubes- 

 cent, the ultimate teeth gland-tipped: calyx-tube long 

 and stalk-like, much exceeding the pedicel, the lobes 

 half as long as the petals: fls. brown-yellow with dark 

 spots. A well-marked species, sometimes offered in 

 the trade. It runs into several forms. The various 

 names and synonyms suggest the divided Ivs. of the 

 umbellifers and other plants. Var. filipendulifolium, 

 Sims. Caulescent: Ivs. sub-bipinnatifid, the segms. 

 oblong. B.M. 1641. Var. daucifolium, Harv. (Geranium 

 daucifolium, Linn.), has If. -segms. narrow -linear or 

 linear-oblong. Var. laxatum, Harv., has Ivs. 4-pinnate, 

 the pinna? stalked and ultimate segms linear. 



2. quinquevulnerum, Willd. Somewhat shrubby at 

 base, sparingly branched, hirsute: Ivs. 2-pinnatifid 

 with linear toothed segms., the stipules broadly cor- 

 date and mucronate: fls. purple, scentless, the petals 

 obovate, velvety, and pale-edged; calyx-tube as long as 

 the pedicels, somewhat hairy, the lobes obtuse. 

 Thought by Sweet to be a hybrid of P. triste and P. 

 bicolor, and so regarded by Knuth. 



3. fulgidum, Ait. (Geranium fulgidum, Linn.). St. 

 shrubby, densely pubescent: Ivs. pinnately 3-parted, 

 silky dn both sides, the lateral segms. 3-lobed, all 



2842. Pelargonium cordatum (XX). No. 18. 



