Geranium. GERANIACEiE. 119 



Order XXV. GERANIACE^. DC. The Geranium Tribe. 



Cal^'X of 5 persistent sepals, which are imbricated in aestivation. Corolla 5- 

 petalled, hypogynous or somewhat perigynous : petals alternate with the sepals, 

 distinct, unguiculate, twisted in imbrication. Stamens usually twice as many 

 as petals, and inserted with them ; some of them occasionally sterile : filaments 

 broad, somewhat monadelphous at the base. Ovary composed of 5 two-ovuled 

 carpels, placed alternate with the sepals round the base of an elongated axis 

 (gynobase). Styles cohering with the axis, free at the summit, stigmatose on 

 the inner side. Carpels dry, 1-seeded, distinct at maturity, and separating 

 from the axis by the twisting or curling back of the persistent style from the 

 base upwards, mostly dehiscent by the inner suture. Seeds without albumen. 

 Cotyledons convoluted and plaited. — Herbs or shrubby plants, commonly 

 strong-scented. Leaves palmately veined and usually lobed, mostly with 

 stipules. Flowers regular, or somewhat irrregular. 



1. GERANIIIM. Linn, (xn^din); Endl. gen. QO'iQ. CRANESBILL. 



[ From gcTutws, a crane ; the pointed fruit resembling the bill of that bird.] 



Sepals equal. Petals 5, equal. Stamens 10, all fertile; alternate ones longer, with a nec- 

 tariferous gland at the base. Persistent styles at length spirally revolute, smooth on the 

 inside. — Herbaceous or rarely suffrutescent plants. Peduncles 1-2- (rarely 3-) flowered. 



1. Geranium maculatum, Linn. Spotted Geranium, or Cranesbill. 



Stem erect, somewhat angular, dichotomous above ; leaves 3 - 5-parted ; the segments 

 acute, cuneiform below, incisely serrate above ; radical leaves on long petioles ; uppermost 

 opposite ; sepals sparsely villous, the hairs scarcely glandular ; petals entire ; filaments sliglnly 

 ciliate at the base. — Michx. fl. 2. p. 38; Ell. sk. 2. p. 157; Bigel. nied. hot. t. 8, and ft. 

 Bost. p. 256 ; DC. prodr. 1. p. 642 ; Torr. compend.p. 254 ; Hook.Jl. Bor.-Am. I. p. 115; 

 Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 392 ; Torr. ^ Gr. ft. N. Am. 1. p. 206. 



Root somewhat ligneous, perennial. Stem 12 - 18 inches high, clothed (as are also the 

 petioles) with a retrorse pubescence. Leaves 2 — 3 inches in diameter, hairy-pubescent ; 

 the lobes incisely toothed or cleft. Stipules lanceolate. Peduncles mostly 2-flowcrcd. Pedi- 

 cels an inch or more in length. Flowers about an incii in diameter. Sepals oblong or oval- 

 lanceolate, sparsely clothed, partictilarly about the margins, with long villous hairs, whicli are 

 mostly tipped with a very minute gland. Petals purple, obovate, with a small dense tuft of 



