139 



SOFT DOVE'S-FOOT CRANE'S-BILL. Geranium molle. 



Plate 10, fiy. 15. 

 Leaves alternate, rounded, downy. Petals notched. 



A trailing plant of but a few inches in extent, laying its 

 many stems close to the ground, upon dry banks and road- 

 sides. It may be known at once by its rounded, cleft, toothed, 

 alternate, downy, and stalked leaves, by its flowering stalks 

 which grow opposite to each leaf, and particularly by its petals, 

 which are cleft at the end. Capsule wrinkled. Seeds smooth. 

 Its flowers are small, pink, two on a stalk, with ten stamens, 

 coming out in June and July, while in a month or two after- 

 wards the seeds will have become ripe, and the whole plant 

 died away it is but an annual, as are also all the Geraniums 

 here described. 



SMALL-FLOWERED CRANE'S-BILL. Geranium pusillum. 



Plate 10, fig. 16. 

 Leaves alternate, kidney- shaped, deeply cleft. Petals notched. 



Often found in dry, gravelly places, but not so common as 

 either the last, or the next it spreads over the ground in the 

 same manner, has trailing stems, and bears flowers at the same 

 season it differs from the Geranium molle in having its leaves 

 much more deeply cut, and the lobes of them distant from each 

 other. Its capsules are not wrinkled, and its seeds smooth. 

 The flowers have but five perfect stamens. 



JAGGED-LEAVED CRANE'S-BILL. Geranium dissectum. 



Plate 10, fig. 17. 

 Leaves cut into narrow strips. Seeds dotted. 



The only common English Geranium like this is the Gera- 

 nium pusillum, from which it is known by the smooth seeds, 

 more deeply -divided leaves, and shorter flower stalks. This 

 species is extremely abundant on dry banks, trailing on the 

 ground, and mostly with its leaves and stems tinged with a 

 deep red color, very much more so than in the two last-described 

 species. Flowers throughout the Summer. 



