110 GERANIACE^. 



Linseed oil has also been recommended as a substitute for cod-liver 

 oil, but as such has not borne the test of clinical experience in a manner 

 to inspire faith in its efficacy. So far as the mere elements of nutrition 

 are concerned, there appears to be no great difference between the two, 

 but there are other factors to be considered in the case of cod-Hver oiL 

 The ti-aces, shght though they be, of iodine, bromine, phosphorus, etc., pres- 

 ent in this oil are certainly of therapeutic importance, and serve to make it 

 not, as some have claimed, a mere fatty food, but a strongly medicinal 

 food, for which we cannot reasonably expect to find a complete substitute 

 in the vegetable kingdom. 



CERANIACE/E. 



Character of the Order. — Annual or perennial herbs, or, in some exotic 

 species, low shrubs, with swollen joints, opposite or alternate, commonly 

 palmately veined leaves, with or without stipules. Flowers commonly 5- 

 merous, regular and symmetrical, hypogynous ; sometimes 3-merous ; oc- 

 casionally unsymmetrical, especially as regards the calyx and corolla. In 

 the most characteristic genera the arrangement is as follows : sepals. 5, 

 imbricate, persistent ; petals 5, convolute in the bud, deciduous ; stamens 

 5 or 10 — when of the latter number the alternate ones shorter or abortive ; 

 ovary 5-celled, each cell 2-ovuled, aiTanged about an elongated axis, to 

 which the styles are adherent ; fruit 5-celled, each cell 1-seeded, separating 

 at the base when mature, curling upward, and when detached leaving the 

 dry axis persisting. 



The order is difficult to characterize as a whole, some of the unsym- 

 metrical individuals being very perplexing ; as these, however, are of no 

 medicinal importance they need not receive our attention. There are al- 

 together half a dozen North American genera, namely, Erodium, Floerkia, 

 Geranium, Impatiens, Limnanthes, and Oxalis. 



GERANIUM. 



Geranium maculatum Ijume.— Spotted Geranium, Wild Cranesbill. 



Description. — Calyx : sepals lanceolate, pointed, - hairy, persistent. 

 Corolla : i^etals broadly obovate or rounded, pale purple, becoming lighter 

 after expansion, fugacious ; claw short, bearded. Stamens 10, all with 

 perfect anthers, the five longer ones with small glands at their base alter- 

 nate with the petals ; anthers versatile, 2-celled, purple. Ovary 5-celled ; 

 pistils adherent to the axis, free at the summit and recurved, with stigmatic 

 surfaces inward. Fruit composed of 5 dry, hairy, 1-seeded carpels, sepa- 

 rating at the base when mature, and curving upward elastically, the inner 

 surface smooth. 



An herbaceous perennial. Khizome cyHndrical, 2 to 3 inches long, 



