GERANIUM FAMILY 



GERANIACE^E 



As now restricted by the leading botanists the 

 Geranium family is a small group of which the 

 common Wild Geranium is a typical example. 

 These are herbaceous plants in which the alternate 

 or opposite leaves are almost always provided 

 with stipules and in which the flowers have all 

 the parts regularly arranged. There are usually 

 five sepals and five petals, with five or more 

 stamens and a single pistil in which the ovary 

 commonly has five lobes and the style is tipped 

 with five stigmas. 



WILD GERANIUM. The common Wild Gera- 

 nium or Spotted Crane's-bill is a widely dis- 

 tributed plant, occurring in the East from New- 

 foundland to Georgia and extending westward 

 beyond the Great Lakes. It is a perennial, sending 

 up stems and leaves from the thickened rootstock 

 early in spring. The magenta-pink flowers begin 

 to appear about the middle of spring and continue 

 until the middle of summer, being most abundant 

 during May. When each blossom first opens the 

 anthers shed the pollen, so that it is practically 

 all gone before the stigmas unfold. If you will 

 examine a few flowers of different ages you can 



153 



