THE CRANE'S-BILL FAMILY. 325 



show varieties or large-flowered kinds (P. grandiflorum-cucul- 

 latum), still form pure and distinct that is, unblended races. 

 The ivy-leaved section, however (P. peltatum-hedertzfoliuni), has 

 been blended with some forms of P. inquinans-zonale, just as 

 have the scented or oak-leaved races, P. quercifolium-capitatum 

 or P. quercifolium-graveolens, with the Nosegay varieties. 



The scented Pelargoniums are not unfrequently grown for their 

 fragrant foliage, and possess a certain economic interest, since 

 P. capitatum, or Rose Geranium, is grown very largely in the 

 south of France, and also in Turkey, by the rose-growers, who 

 use an essential oil expressed from it to adulterate otto or attar 

 of roses, while this Geranium oil is not unfrequently itself adul- 

 terated with oil expressed from one of the fragrant Andropogons 

 cultivated for perfumery purposes in the Moluccas. The three 

 commonest species are P. graveolens, P. capitatum, and P. quer- 

 cifolium, or oak-leaved. The first-named (P. graveolens) was 

 introduced by Francis Masson in 1774; and although a Cape 

 species, is said to be used everywhere as a hedge-plant in 

 Madeira. P. querdfolium was introduced by Masson at the 

 same time as the last ; and a near ally, P. glutinosum (see ' Bot. 

 Mag.,' t. 143), was sent to Kew by Messrs Lee and Kennedy 

 about 1777. The Rose Geranium (P. capitatum) was intro- 

 duced by the Earl of Portland in 1690. An old crimson- 

 purple-flowered variety, called Rollison's Unique, appears to 

 have been a hybrid or cross-bred raised from this section, and 

 is still grown in gardens, together with three or four of its more 

 modern varieties or seedlings. Mr Sampson, of Yeovil, raised 

 several new varieties of scented or oak-leaved Pelargoniums in 

 1871, these having been obtained by crossing a Cape species 

 with some of the modem Nosegay varieties. These seedlings 

 flower freely, the flowers being of different shades of rosy 

 purple, variously striped or spotted with purple, violet, or crim- 

 son on the upper petals. These varieties were sent out by Mr 

 Cannell, of Woolwich, in 1873-74. Mr Wilson Saunders and 

 Major Trevor-Clarke have also raised interesting hybrids from 

 the old Cape species. 



Seeds of all the sections of this genus should be sown in 

 February in a gentle bottom-heat ; and if potted off carefully, 

 and grown on freely, or planted out in a well-manured and 

 sheltered border, will flower the first year. Fancy or show 

 varieties should be grown on in a frame or pit in pots, and this 

 plan is also generally adopted for those of the zonal section. 

 Variegated, oronze, or tricolor varieties are very readily raised 

 by hybridising dark-zoned green forms, such as Stella,. Emperor 

 of the French, &c., with pollen from Mrs Pollock and other 



