35 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND BLOSSOMS. 



should be noted. The sepals end each in a hard point in 

 botanists' language they are mucronate the margin of the 

 narrow petals is entire, that is, not notched, and the narrow 

 lower portion (claw) is not fringed with hairs. The carpels, or 

 divisions of the seed-vessel, are keeled but not wrinkled, and the 

 seeds are pitted. Its nearest allies are : 



I. The Dove's-foot Crane's-bill (G. molle], with similar leaves to the last, but with 

 notched petals, the claw bearded. Flowers more rosy than rotiindifoliuin. 



II. Small-flowered Crane's-bill (G. pusillnnt). Leaves more deeply lobed, sepals 

 as long as the notched petals, claw slightly hairy. Flowers, pale rose. 



III. Long-stalked Crane's-bill (G. cohimbinuiit). Lobes of leaves distant from 

 each other, the segments into which they are again cut being very narrow ; sepals 

 large, acuminate and awned, as long as the entire rose-purple petals ; claws less 

 hairy than in last. All the leaf and flower-stalks long. 



IV. Cut-leaved Crane's-bill (G. dissectnni). Similar to G. columbinnm, but all 

 stalks much shorter. Bright red petals, notched. 



V. Herb-Robert (G. robertianuni). Plant more or less red. Leaves divided 

 into five leaflets, these again divided. Calyx angular, the sepals long-awned and 

 hairy. Petals narrow and entire ; purple streaked with red ; claw smooth. 



VI. Shining Crane's-bill (G. lucidmn). Plant more or less crimson in summer. 

 Leaves divided into five segments, each bluntly lobed at the top. The calyx is a 

 wrinkled pyramid, each sepal awned. The rosy petals are much longer than the 

 sepals ; claw smooth. There are two lines of hairs on the upper branches. 



All the above are annual or biennial plants. The name of the genus is from the 

 Greek geranos, a crane, from a fancied resemblance in the fruit to a Crane's-bill. 



The mechanism for the dispersal of seeds in the Crane's-bills 

 is worthy of attention. When the petals fall off the carpels 

 enlarge, and the outer layer of the style separates from the 

 axis, splitting into five portions, each attached to a carpel at 

 the bottom and to the style at top. The axis of the style 

 further elongates, but the tails of the carpels do not, and 

 there is, in consequence, great tension, which ends in the carpel 

 being detached from its base. The " tail " curls up, the carpel 

 is reversed, and the seed drops out. 



The Hemlock Stork's-bill (Erodium cicutariuui). 



Closely related to the Crane's bills and at one time included 

 in the genus Geranium with them are the Stork's-bills, of 



