GERANlACEAE (GERANIUM FAMILY) 



257 



preceding species, a little more than a half-inch long, faintly five- 

 sided, with tapering point. Seeds compressed ovoid, brown, trans- 

 versely wrinkled. 



Means of control the same as for Wood Sorrel. 



SMALL-FLOWERED CRANE'S-BILL 

 Geranium pusillum, Burm. f. 



Introduced. Annual or biennial. Propagates by seed. 



Time of bloom : May to September. 



Seed-lime: June to October. 



Range: Ontario to British Columbia, southward to North Caro- 

 lina, Nebraska, and Utah. 



Habitat: Cultivated ground, lawns and yards, roadsides, and waste 

 places. 



This plant is frequently troublesome in lawns and its seeds are 

 too often an impurity of the mixed grass seeds sold for making such 

 green turf. Its seed capsules open elas- 

 tically, scattering its progeny for several 

 feet ; lawn-mowers also help in its dis- 

 tribution, and soon the grass begins to 

 be "run out" by the weed, especially 

 when the turf is rather thin and the 

 soil in need of enrichment. (Fig. 181.) 



It has a slender taproot, fringed with 

 thready rootlets. Stem three inches to 

 a foot or more in length, branching from 

 the base, spreading or prostrate, softly 

 hairy. Leaves rounded or kidney- 

 shaped in outline but deeply five- to 

 seven-lobed, the segments toothed at 

 the tips, finely downy-hairy. Flowers 

 in pairs, on short peduncles in the axils 

 or opposite to them, about a quarter- 

 inch broad, pinkish purple, the five 

 petals notched at their edges ; five 

 sepals, nearly as long as the petals, 

 sharp-pointed but without awns ; stamens five ; the five united, 

 persistent styles form the "crane's-bill," which tips the five- 



FIG. 181. Small-flowered 

 Crane's-bill (Geranium pu- 

 sillum). X i. 



