UERANIACE^. 29 



convex receptacle. Carpels iinited into an ovary with cells 2-oo - 

 ovulate, oppositipetalous. Fruit capsular, loculicidal, or fleshy. — 

 3 (or 4) genera. 



We thus see that the most important characters for distinguishing 

 the series or genera are drawn from the shape of the receptacle, 

 the regular or irregular form of the flowers, the number of the 

 stamens, the situation of the carpels with respect to the pieces of 

 the perianth, their independence, or union, the organisation of the 

 fruit, and the mode of dehiscence, the number and dii-cction of the 

 ovules and seeds. The other characters, which vary in the difi'erent 

 genera, are : the mode of prsettoration of the calyx, the presence or 

 absence of petals, the number of fertile and sterile stamens, that of 

 the ovary cells, the consistence of the pericarp, and the shape of the 

 embryo. 



It is in these characters we must find the closest affinities of 

 the Geraniaceœ. On one side, by the Bieberstcinia, they are nearly 

 allied to the Butaceœ and Ochnacece^ scarcely distinguished among 

 the former from the Surianeœ having two ovules in each carpel,^ 

 and the Zijgophjllecv^ having generally staminal filaments free and 

 furnished with a basilar interior scale, like those of Qnassiece^ a 

 fruit with a diff'orcnt dehiscence and a lateral swollen inflorescence. 

 On the other hand the Geraniaceœ are allied to the Linaceœ, from 

 which we see they are scarcely separated in an entirely artificial 

 manner. 



The six hundred species or so ^ contained in this group arc 

 distributed so that there are about a sixth part in America. The 

 other five-sixths belong to the old world.^ All the Balbisieœ, some 

 dozen in number, are natives of South America. It is the same with 

 the Nasturtiums, Floerkea, and HtJi^scocliaris. On the contrary, 

 Averrhoa^ Dapania^ and Biehersteinia (except one) are Asiatic. 

 Monsonia is Asiatic, and especially African. Pelargonium is almost 



Gcii. 1171, Ord. 2Ô1. — Oxalidaeeœ Lindl. Introd. Geraniums which have followed niiin in certain 



ed. 2, 140; J^'cy. i'wy^. 438, Ord. 185. parts of Ainerica, especially Q. Robertianum 



1 Voy. Adaiisoiiia,K. 317, 360. (voy. A. DC. Gèogr. Bot. 720). Certain species 



- Those of Pilargoniiim and Oxalin arc often of Impatiens, as I. fidva, natives of America, 



hadly defined and will be doubtless further have been naturalised in Europe. The Europgan 



reduced ; hence the difBculty of fixing the exact Oxnlis with yellow flowers, like 0. convcuhita 



number. and stricta, exist for similar reasons in both 



^ There are some common species of European worlds (A. DC. op. cit. 629, 660). 



