THE GERANIUM FAMILY. 2S5 



WILD GERANIUM. SPOTTED CRANE'S BILL. 



Geranium fnaat/aiuni. 



Flowers: solitary, or a few growing in unihcllalc clusters and borne at the ends 

 of distinct peduncles. Calyx : with five, oblong, pointed sepals. Corolla: with 

 five, rounded petals. Stamens: ten, five of winch are longer than the others. 

 Pistil: one; styles five. Leaves: from the base and two from the stem, 

 with long, rather rough petioles, palniately divided into three to seven segments] 

 the divisions notched and acutely lobed at their apices, rather rough above, the 

 under surface with white hairs along the veins. Stetn: forked at the summit ; one 

 to two feet high; hairy. Rootstocks ; thick. 



Often in places thick with green we find in early spring tlie wild gcraniiini 

 putting forth its delicately tinted bloom. Not far away perliaj)s the marsh 

 marigold gleams vividly gold by the brook's side, or thrcnigh the fields 

 a mass of wild horse radish flowers are blowing, and still it lingers 

 until the wild orchids of its neighbourhood have had their day. As its 

 leaves grow old they turn to yellow, or become blotched and spotted with 

 white, which peculiarity in connection with the long crane-like beak of its 

 young carpels is the significance of one of its English names. Country peo- 

 ple also call it alum root in reference to that part's bitter flavour. 



G. Carolinianiun, Carolina crane's bill, differs from its relative in that it 

 is an annual and grows in fields and abundantly in abandoned waste places. 

 Its pubescence also is more strongly marked and the segments of its smaller 

 leaves are more bluntly lobed. Two pale purple flowers grow from the 

 ends of the peduncles, their petals only about equalling in length the sepals. 



THE WOOD=SORREL FAHILY. 



OxalidacecE. 



A?mualj bienjiial or perennial JiC7-hs wilh sour fit ice and cither acau- 

 leseefif^ or leafy stems arising from bulbs or scaly or fibrous rootstocks. 

 Leaves : three foliate in our species, the leaflets being mostly oluonlate. 

 Floioers : perfect ; solitary, or growing in cynics, the petals cither white, 

 yellow, pink or puiple. 



