72 GERANIACE.E. (GERANIUM FAMILY.) 



* Stemless: leaves and scapes from a rootstock or bulb: cells few-seeded. 



1. O. Acetosella, L. (COMMON WOOD-SORREL.) Rootstock creeping 

 and scaly-toothed ; scape \-flowered; petals white with reddish veins, often 

 notched. Deep cold woods, Massachusetts to L. Superior and northward : 

 also southward in the Alleghanies. . June. Plant 2' -5' high, sparsely hairy: 

 the flower I' broad. Leaflets broadly obcordate. (Eu.) 



2. O. Violacea, L. (VIOLET WOOD-SORREL.) Bulb scaly ; scapes urn- 

 bellately several-flowered, longer than the leaves ; petals violet. Rocky places : 

 most common southward. May, June. Nearly smooth, 5' -9' high. Leaves 

 very broadly obcordate. Sepals tipped with a gland. Corolla 1' broad. 



# # Stems leafy : peduncles axillary : cells several-seeded. 



3. O. Stricta, L. (YELLOW WOOD-SORREL.) Annual or perennial? 

 by running subterranean shoots ; stems at first erect, branching ; peduncles 2 - 

 6-flowered, longer than the leaves ; petals yellow ; pods elongated, erect in fruit. 

 Borders of woods, fields, and cultivated grounds common. May -Sept. 

 Varies greatly in appearance and in the size of its flowers, according to season 

 and situation. O. comiculata, L. is probably the same species. (Eu. ?) 



ORDER 28. GERANIACEJE. (GERANIUM FAMILY.) 



Plants with mostly regular and symmetrical Jiypogynous 5-merous flowers, 

 imbricated sepals and convolute petals, 10 stamens slightly monadelphous at 

 the base, the alternate ones shorter and sometimes sterile, and 5 pistils coher- 

 ing to a central prolonged axis, from which they separate at maturity by the 

 curling back of the styles elastically, carrying with them the small l-seeded 

 pods. Calyx persistent. Ovules 2 in each carpel, pendulous, anatropous, 

 usually but one ripening. Pods small and membranaceous, cohering to 5 

 shallow excavations in the base of the prolonged axis, usually torn open 

 on the inner face when they are carried away by the recurving styles. 

 Seed without albumen : cotyledons folded together and bent down on the 

 short radicle. Strong-scented herbs (or the Pelargoniums, which have 

 somewhat irregular flowers, shrubby plants), with opposite or alternate 

 stimulate leaves, and bitter astringent roots. 



1. OERANIUM, L. CRANESBILL. 



Stamens 10, all with perfect anthers, the 5 longer with glands at their base 

 (alternate with the petals). Styles not twisted in fruit when they separate from 

 the axis, smooth inside. Stems forking. Peduncles 1 -3-flowered. (An old 

 Greek name, from yepavos, a crane ; the long fruit-bearing beak thought to re- 

 semble the bill of that bird. ) 



* Root perennial. 



1. O. maculatum, L. (WILD CRANESBILL.) Stem erect, hairy; 

 leaves about 5-parted, the wedge-shaped divisions lobed and cut at 'the end; 

 sepals slender-pointed; petals entire, light purple, bearded on the claw (' long). 



