344 ' 



GERANIACEAE. 



[Vox,. II. 



(Fig. 2248.) 



10. Geranium molle L,. Doves's-foot Crane '-bill. 

 Geranium molle L,. Sp. PI. 682. 1753. 



Resembling the preceding species, but more villous, the 

 leaves nearly orbicular [in outline and not as deeply cleft, 

 generally only to just below the middle, into 7-11 obovate or 

 cuneate lobes, which are 3~5-toothed at the apex; flowers dark- 

 purple, 3 // ~5 // broad ;sepals_obtusish, not awned; capsule-lobes 

 distinctly marked with transverse wrinkles; beak about 5" 

 long, sparingly pubescent; seeds smooth or striate, not pitted, 

 nor reticulate; anther-bearing filaments 10. 



In waste places, Maine to Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and 

 Ontario. Also in Washington and Vancouver. Fugitive from Eu- 

 rope. Other English names are Pigeon-foot, Starlights, Culverfoot. 

 May-Sept. 



2. ERODIUM I/Her. Geran. pi. i. 1787. 



Herbs, generally with jointed nodes, opposite or alternate 

 stipulate leaves, and axillary umbellate nearly regular flow- 

 ers. Sepals 5, imbricated. Petals 5, hypogynous, imbricated, 

 the 2 upper slightly smaller. Glands 5. Anther-bearing sta- 

 mens 5, alternating with as many sterile filaments. Ovary 5- 

 lobed, s-celled, beaked by the united styles, the beak termina- 

 ting in 5 stigmas; ovules 2 in each cavity. Capsule-lobes i-seeded, the styles elastically dehis- 

 cent and coiled spirally at maturity, villous-bearded on the inner.'side. Seeds not reticulate. 

 [Greek, a heron, from the resemblance of the fruit to its beak and bill.] 



About 60 species, widely distributed in temperate and warm regions. There are three native 

 species in the southwest ana several exotic ones have been collected on ballast at the seaports. 



i. Erodium deuterium (L.) L'Her. 

 Hemlock Stork' s-bill or Heron' s-bill. 

 Alfilaria. Pine Needle. (Fig. 2249.) 



Geranium cicntarittm L. Sp. PI. 680. 1753. 

 Erodium cicutarium L'Her.; Ait. Hort. Kew. 2: 414. 



1789. 



Annual, tufted, villous-pubescent, somewhat 

 viscid, erect or ascending, branched, 6 / -i2 / high. 

 Basal and lower leaves petioled, 3'-7 x long, #'-i' 

 wide, pinnate, the divisions finely pinnatifid; upper 

 leaves sessile, otherwise similar; peduncles gener- 

 ally longer than the leaves, umbellately 2-12- 

 flowered; flowers purple or pink, 4 // -5 // broad; 

 sepals acute, villous, about equalling the entire 

 petals; carpels hairy; beak %'-i%' long, its divi- 

 sions spirally coiled when ripe. 



Waste places and fields, Nova Scotia, Ontario, New 

 Jersey, New England, Pennsylvania and Michigan and 

 very abundant from Texas to Oregon. Adventive from 

 Europe, in our area. A common weed in the Old World. 

 Called also Pin-clover, Pin-grass. April-Sept. 



Erodium moschatum Willd., reported from Ontario 

 and Maine, has much broader leaf -segments. 



Family 51. OXALIDACEAE Lindl. Nat. Syst. Ed. 2, 140. 1836.* 



WOOD-SORREL FAMILY. 



Annual or perennial leafy-stemmed or acaulescent herbs, or rarely shrubs, 

 often with rootstocks or scaly bulbs, the sap sour. Leaves mostly palmately 3- 

 foliolate, in some exotic species pinnate or entire and peltate; stipules commonly 

 present as scarious expansions of the petiole-bases; leaflets mostly obcordate. 

 Flowers perfect, in umbel-like or forking cymes, or sometimes solitary; pedun- 

 cles mostly long. Sepals 5, often unequal. Petals 5, white, pink, purple or 

 yellow. Stamens 10-15. Ovary 5-celled, 5-lobed; styles united, or distinct; 

 ovules 2-many in each cavity; fruit a loculicidal globose or columnar capsule, 

 rarely baccate. Embryo straight, in fleshy endosperm. 



About 7 genera and 270 species, chiefly of tropical distribution. 

 *Text contributed by Dr. JOHN K. SMALL. 



