GERANIACEAE 



GERANIUM FAMILY 



WILD CRANESBILL 



Geranium maciilatum L. 



The Geranium family is distributed throughout the 

 world but is of no great importance except for the beauty 

 of some of its flowers. The cultivated Geraniums belong 

 to the genus PeZar- 

 gonhim. The spe- 

 cies described here 

 gets its common 

 name from the 

 long beak, like the 

 bill of a crane, 

 which the styles 

 form on the fruit. 



The Wild Cranes- 

 bill or Wild Geranium is common 

 in open woods and fields throughout 

 the eastern half of the United States 

 and Canada. The flowers bloom 

 from the latter part of April to the 

 end of June, and the earliest fruits 

 usually mature before the last 

 flowers of the same plant open. 



The erect forking stems rise i-2 

 feet high from a heavy knotted 

 underground stem which is power- 

 fully astringent. Usually there are 

 several basal leaves on long petioles; 

 the stem leaves are smaller and sessile or on very short petioles. 



The petals are rose-purple. The lo stamens are arranged 

 in 2 circles of i;; those in the outer circle mature first and the 

 pollen is distributed, then the inner stamens mature, and finally 

 the 5 stigmas are ready for cross-pollination. The ovary matures 

 into a 5-celled fruit with i seed in each cell. When the truit is 

 mature the parts break loose at the base, curl up suddenly and 

 discharge the seeds. 



The Carolina Cranesbill, Geranium carolinianum L., is a weedy 

 species of dry barren soils throughout Illinois. The stems are 

 fleshy, much branched and loosely hairy. The leaves are 5-9-cleft 

 into oblong-linear, toothed segments. The pale pink flowers are 

 small in compact umbelled clusters. 



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