GERANlACEyE 299 



Geraniaceae 



The majority of plants included are herbaceous; at the 

 base of the leaves will be found the small leaf-like organs 

 known as "stipules"; the flower is composed of five 

 petals, five sepals, ten stamens and five styles, and a most 

 peculiar characteristic is the strong spiral spring-like beak 

 which is able to project the seeds to a distance of seven or 

 eight yards. 



Geranium 



.: Cranes-bill; "Fr. : Geranium; Ger. : Storchschnabel. 



Dwarfer varieties are good for cool and slightly shaded 

 positions in rockeries and borders, the taller for wilder 

 parts among such plants as Aconites or Digitalis. The 

 flowering season lasts from May to autumn. They are 

 easily grown from seed, which should be gathered very 

 early, since the capsules open soon after sunrise. It is 

 doubtful whether any of the Swiss varieties are really 

 worth inclusion in a garden, though rivulare is a handsome 

 plant. All are certainly inferior to the asiatic ibericum, for 

 example, or the native English lancastriense, the alpine ar- 

 genteum, the pyrenaean cinereum. The genus is distinguished 

 by a regular corolla, with ten, seldom five anthers; the 

 stem is usually divided into two forks, bearing palmate 

 leaves. The whole plant has a strongly aromatic scent. 



G. rivulare (G. aconitifolium) (PI. XXVI). Plant with 

 stems branched above, slightly pubescent; leaves palmate, 

 very deeply cut and veined, greyish-green; flowers with 



