GERANIUM FAMILY. 71 



The flax crop is one which involves a good deal of troublesome, disa- 

 greeable labor, and, without being profitable, is generally believed to be 

 injurious to the soil : an opinion as old as the time of Virgil who says 



" Urit enim Lini carnpum seges, urit avense." GEORG. 1. 71. 



or, as rendered by Sothcby, 



" Oats and the Flaxen harvest burn the ground." 



The seeds of this plant besides yielding a most valuable drying oil, used 

 in painting afford one of the best mucilaginous drinks, for coughs, and 

 dysenteric affections. 



ORDER XI Y. GERANIA'CEJE. (GERANIUM FAMILY.) 



Mostly lierbs with symmetrical, hypogyuous, pentamerous flowers. Sepals imbricated. 

 Petals convolute. Stamens 10, slightly monadelphous at base, the alternate ones shorter. 

 1'istils 5, adhering to a central prolonged axis, from which they separate at maturity by 

 curling up and carrying with them the small 1-seeded pods. Seeds without albumen. 

 Herbs, or sometimes shrubby plants with opposite or alternate, stipulate, scented leaves 

 and astringent roots. 



The ornamental half-shrubby plants so common in collections of green-house plants 

 and usually called Geraniums, belong to the genus PELARGONIUM. 



1. GERA'NIUM, L. CRANES-BILL. 



[Greek, Geranos, a crane ; the beaked fruit resembling a crane's bill.] 

 Stamens all perfect, the 5 longer ones with glands at base. Styles co- 

 hering at the summit, recurved from below, but not twisted, in the ripe 

 fruit ; smooth inside. 



1. Gr. macula'tum, L. Stem erect, dichotomous above ; leaves 3-5- 

 parted ; petals entire, twice as long as the calyx. 

 SPOTTED GERANIUM. Cranes-bill. 



Perennial. Stem 12-18 inches high, hairy. Leaves 2-3 inches long, the divisions lobed 

 and cut at the end, blotched with whitish as they grow old, the radical on petioles 3- 6 or 

 8 inches in length, those of the stem on much shorter petioles and the upper ones subses- 

 sile. Flowers purple, large, somewhat corymbose. Petals bearded on the claw. 



Woods and along fences, common. April -July. 



Obs. This plant is not troublesome as a weed, but is introduced here 

 on account of its valuable medicinal properties ; it being one of the 

 best astringents used in medicine equalling in importance any of the 

 imported articles of that class the agriculturist ought to be able to 

 identify it. The thick, fleshy root, or rather rhizoma, which should be 

 collected in autumn, is powerfully astringent, without bitterness or un- 

 pleasant taste, and is useful in diarrhoea and other diseases where a 

 medicine of this kind is required. Boiled in water and mixed with sugar 

 and milk, it is easily administered to children. G. Carolinian'um, L., 

 a native species, and G. pusillum, an introduced one, are annual species, 

 and common in waste places. Erodium cicutarium, L., (which has the 

 5 shorter stamens sterile, and the styles, in fruit, twisting spirally,) is 

 naturalized sparingly in the Atlantic States, but in California and 

 Oregon it has taken complete possession of large tracts ; it is there 

 known as " pin weed." 



