PlNK 



HERB ROBERT. 



IPl. CH 



Geranium Robertianum. Geranium Family. 



Stem. Forking ; slightly hairy. Leaves. Three-divided, the divisions 

 again dissected. Flowers. Purple-pink; small. Calyx. Of five sepals. 

 Corolla. Of five petals. Stamens. Ten. Pistil. One, with five styles 

 which split apart in fruit. 



From June until October many of our shaded woods and 

 glens are abundantly decorated by the bright blossoms of the 

 herb Robert. The reddish stalks of the plant have won it the 

 name of " red -shanks " in the Scotch Highlands. Its strong 

 scent is caused by a resinous secretion which exists in several of 

 the geraniums. In some species this resin is so abundant that 

 the stems will burn like torches, yielding a powerful and pleasant 

 perfume. The common name is said to have been given the 

 plant on account of its supposed virtue in a disease which was 

 known as " Robert's plague," after Robert, Duke of Normandy. 

 In some of the early writers it is alluded to as the " holy herb of 

 Robert." 



In fruit the styles of this plant split apart with an elasticity 

 which serves to project the seeds to a distance, it is said, of 

 twenty-five feet. 



COMMON MILKWORT. 



fpi. XCIV 



Polygala sanguinea. Milkwort Family. 



Stem. Six inches to a foot high; sparingly branched above; leafy to the 

 top. Leaves. Oblong-linear. Flowers. Growing in round or oblong 

 heads which are somewhat clover-like in appearance ; bright pink or almost 

 red, occasionally paler. Calyx. Of five sepals, three of which are small 

 and often greenish, while the two inner ones are much larger and colored 

 like the petals. Corolla. Of three petals connected with each other, the 

 lower one keel-shaped. Stamens. Six or eight. Pistil, One. (Flowers 

 too difficult to be analyzed by the non-botanist.) 



This pretty little plant abounds in moist and also sandy 

 places, growing on mountain heights as well as in the salt mead- 

 ows which skirt the sea. In late summer its bright flower-heads 



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