190 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



Sub-Ordeu I.— GERANIEJE. 



Elowcrs regular or irregular. Sepals herbaceous, persistent, 

 free, equal or the uj)permost one spurred at the base. Petals 

 caducous, free. Stamens 10 (rarely 15), with frequently some of 

 them without anthers ; filaments often dilated and united into a 

 short ring at the base. Torus produced beyond the insertion of 

 the ovules, forming an axis to which the beaks of the carpels are 

 attached. Carpels 5 in number, 1-seeded, separating from the axis 

 Avith elasticity when ripe. Albumen none, lladicle bent.* 



GENUS /.— G E R A N I U M. Linn. 



Elowers regular. Sepals 5, persistent, free, imbricated, the 

 upper one not spurred. Petals 5. Glands 5, altei'nate with the 

 petals. Stamens 10, generally all antheriferous, rarely 5 of the 

 filaments without anthers. Capsule consisting of 5 separable 

 cocca with long beaks which are glabrous on the inner face. Axis 

 forming a central column, from which the beaks of the difierent 

 carpels separate and roll up from the base towards the apex 

 without tAvisting like a corkscrew. 



Annual or pei-ennial herbs (rarely undershrubs), often more or 

 less hairy. Stems enlarged at the joints. Leaves palmately veined 

 and palmately lobed, cut or divided ; the lower ones on long stalks ; 

 the uppermost ones sessile ; those on the upper part of the stem 

 opposite. Peduncles in the forks of the stem or occasionally axil- 

 lary by the suppression of the branches of the cyme on one side, 

 bracteated at the apex, 2-flowered, more rarely 1-flowered. Plowers 

 purple, rose, lilac, or white, often veined, on pedicels which are 

 generally reflexed after flowering, but incurved at the apex, so 

 that the young fruit is erect. 



The name of this genus comes from the Greek word ycpavoQ {geranos), a crane, 

 because the long beak which terminates the carpels resembles the bill of the crane. 



* Although I have followed Dr. Hooker and Mr. Bentham in the definition of 

 Geraniaceffi, I have thought it better to restrict Geraniese to the order GeraiiiiicejB as 

 commonly received, which differs from the Geraniece ol the above-nieiitioiied authors 

 V)y the exclusion of Biebei-steima and the addition ol Pelargonium, as given at page 

 27 1 of " Genera Plauturum." 



