108 GERANIACE^E. (GERANIUM FAMILY.) 



2. ERODIUM, L'Her. Storksbill. 



The 5 shorter stamens sterile or wanting. Styles in fruit twisting spirally, 

 bearded inside. Otherwise as Geranium. (Name from epcobios, a heron.) 



1. E. cicutArium, L'Her. Annual, hairy; stems low, spreading ; leaves 

 pinnate ; the leaflets sessile, 1 - 2-pinnatifid ; peduncles several-flowered. — New 

 York, Pennsylvania, &c. : scarce. (Adv. from Eu.) 



3. PLGERKEA, Wflld. False Mermaid. 



Sepals 3. Petals 3, shorter than the calyx, oblong. Stamens 6. Ovaries 3, 

 opposite the sepals, united only at the base ; the style rising in the centre : 

 stigmas 3. Fruit of 3 (or 1-2) roughish fleshy achenia. Seed anatropous, 

 erect, filled by the large embryo with its hemispherical fleshy cotyledons. — A 

 small and inconspicuous annual, with minute solitary flowers on axillary pe- 

 duncles. (Named after Flrerke, a German botanist.) 



1. F. proserpinaeoides, Willd. — Marshes and river-banks, W. New 

 England to Wisconsin and Kentucky. April - June. — Leaflets 3-5, lanceo- 

 late, sometimes 2-3-cleft. Taste slightly pungent. 



4. IMPATIENS, L. Balsam. Jewel-weed. 



Calyx and corolla colored alike and not clearly distinguishable. Sepals ap- 

 parently only 4 ; the anterior one, which is notched at the apex, probably con- 

 sisting of two combined ; the posterior one (appearing anterior as the flower 

 hangs on its stalk) largest, and forming a spurred sac. Petals 2, unequal-sided 

 and 2-lobed (each consisting of a pair united). Stamens 5, short : filaments 

 appendaged with a scale on the inner side, the 5 scales connivent and united 

 over the stigma : anthers opening on the inner face. Ovary 5-celled : stigma 

 sessile. Pod with evanescent partitions, and a thick axis bearing the several 

 anatropous seeds, 5-valved, the valves coiling elastically and projecting the 

 seeds in bursting. Embryo straight: albumen none. — Leaves simple, alter- 

 nate, without stipules, in our species ovate or oval, coarsely toothed, petioled. 

 Flowers axillary or panicled, often of two sorts, viz., — the larger ones, as 

 described above, which seldom ripen seeds ; — and very small ones, which are 

 fertilized early in the bud ; their floral envelopes never expand, nor grow to 

 their full size, but are forced off by the growing pod and carried upwards on 

 its apex. (Name from the sudden bursting of the pods when touched, whence 

 also the popular appellation, Touch-me-not, or Snap-weed.) 



1. I. pallida, Nutt. (Pale Touch-me-not.) Flowers pale-yellow, spar- 

 ingly dotted with brownish-red ; sac dilated and very obtuse, broader than long, 

 tipped with a short incurved spur. — Moist shady places and along rills, in rich 

 soil ; most common northward. July - Sept. — Larger and greener than the 

 next, with larger flowers : a spotless variety in N. Vermont and New Hamp- 

 shire, Miss Lumbard. 



2. I. fiilva, Nutt. (Spotted Touch-me-not.) Flowers orange-color, thickly 

 spotted with reddish-brown ; sac longer than broad, acutely conical, tapering into 

 a strongly injiexed spur. — Hills and shady moist places : common, especially 



