Wild Flowers East of the Rockies 189 



WILD GERANIUM; CRANESBILL (Geranium 



maculatum) is one of our most common woodland 

 plants, flowering from May to July. The stem, the 

 leaves and the flower calyx are rough-hairy, the form- 

 er being quite stout and branching and attaining 

 heights of one to two feet. The large, magenta or 

 pale purple flowers are in loose, few-flowered clusters 

 at the ends of the branches; the petals are large and 

 rounded and slightly over-lap; they are delicate in 

 texture and show several rather transparent lines 

 radiating from their whitish, bearded bases; the ten 

 stamens are all tipped with large, golden-brown anth- 

 ers and surround a slender, green pistil. This pis- 

 til grows to be very long by the time the plant is in 

 fruit, and it is this long beak that gives the species 

 the name of Cranesbill; when the fruit is fully ma- 

 tured, it suddenly splits upwards from the base and 

 scatters the seeds contained therein, for a distance 

 of several feet. 



The leaves of the Geranium are very beautiful; 

 some of them are on long petioles from the base and 

 others on shorter stems from the main plant stalk. 

 Their texture is very coarse and fuzzy, and the sur- 

 face often spotted with white or brown; they are 

 palmately divided into five lobes, each of which is 

 sharply toothed and pointed. It is very common from 

 Me. to Manitoba and southwards. 



HERB ROBERT (Geranium Robertianum) is a 

 smaller edition of the last. Its flowers are similar, 

 but smaller and coarser in texture. Its leaves are 

 smaller and usually more deeply cleft. The stem is 

 usually stained with red; both this and the leaves 

 emit a strong odor when bruised. 



The blossoms of this, and the last species, are fre- 

 quented by various kinds of bees that are necessary 

 to insure its pollenization, since the anthers have fal- 

 len away before the stigma ripens. Herb Robert is 

 common from Me. to Minn, and southwards. 



