ON GERANIUMS 177 



(Stork' s-bill) comes from pelargos, a stork, in allusion to 

 the beak-like form of the seed-pod. There is a similarity 

 of derivation here which arrests attention at once, and 

 suffices to show excuse for popular confusion. It is not 

 until we study the structure of the flowers botanically 

 that we get on to safe ground. The flowers of the 

 Geranium are regular, spurless, and with ten stamens : 

 those of the Pelargonium are irregular, spurred, with 

 five stamens or less. Thus we concede a point to the 

 botanist, and admit that, while he sometimes tries our 

 patience, he keeps us right in the main. 



Hardy Geraniums. Several of the true Geraniums 

 are British plants. In addition to the Herb Robert, such 

 species as pratense, purple, the Meadow Crane's-bill ; 

 sanguineum, crimson ; lucidum, pink ; and lancastriense, 

 striped, may be named as wildings. The Zonal 

 Geranium, however, in common with most of the other 

 Pelargoniums, came from South Africa, and is not hardy 

 in Great Britain. 



Lovers of hardy plants will gladly admit some of the 

 true Geraniums to their gardens, especially if they have 

 to furnish borders that are partially shaded by trees. I 

 have used these Crane's-bills somewhat largely on a cool, 

 shady border of clay soil in a Kentish garden, and they 

 have proved very useful, spreading into large but not 

 unwieldy masses, and providing numbers of brilliant 

 flowers. They proved easy to increase to any desired 

 extent by means of division in spring. In addition to 

 the natives named, I found armenum, a purple species 

 from Nepal ; sylvaticum, having purple flowers with 

 crimson veins ; cinereum, red, from the Pyrenees ; and 

 striatum, striped, an Italian species, good ; the collection 

 was strengthened by one or two garden forms of the 

 natives, such as the double and white varieties of pratense. 



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