196: 
Th BRITISH HERBAL 
and fome of the fpecies are to be put into one clafs, and others into anot 
indeed. 
her. This, nature abhors, 
Unhappily for this author’s fyftem, the cranefbills are characterifed more thoroughly by their 
fingular fruit than any other genus of plants whatever : 
they are therefore incapable of being thus 
feparated ; nor, though their difference in this flight refpect} feemed to render it neceflary, has the 
author ventured to do it: he. leaves it a blemifh in his fyftem. 
Indeed, the determination of reafon is plainly this, That Suftem which Separates. like genera, and 
places in diftinét claffes the plants evidently of the fame genus, is falfe. This cenfure falls directly upon 
the method of this celebrated author ; and thefe two claffes, the 
A, lpb ia and Aina? [ph iy are proved 
by this inftance, as others by thofe before-named, to have no real foundation in nature. 
DIV" 1.8 f-O Niwa. 
1. Herb Robert. 
Geranium pedunculis bifloris calycibus birfutis. 
The root is fmall, long, divided, and hung 
with many fibres. 
_ The leaves that rife immediately from it have 
long, weak, hairy footftalks of a red colour. 
The leaves themfelves are large, and beauti- 
‘fully formed: they are firft divided into three or 
five parts, and thefe are afterwards deeply in_ 
dented. They are of a tender fubftance, of a pale 
green, and lightly fprinkled over with white 
hairs. : 
The ftalks are numerous, round, redifh, and 
jointed: they grow in the centre of this tuft of 
leaves, and are a foot or more in length, but not 
perfectly upright: the leaves from thefe are di- 
vided in the fame manner with thofe from the 
root, and are of the fame pale green. 
The flowers are moderately large, and of a 
bright red: they grow on flender pedicles, each 
{pliting toward the end, and fupporting two of 
them. | : 
The fruit, or beak, is long, flender, and co- 
vered at the bafe where the feeds lie by the cup, 
which is hairy. 
The whole plant has a very fingular, but not 
difagreeable fmell. 
Toward the end of fummer it frequently be- 
comes throughout of a bright red colour, leaves, 
and ftalks, and even the beaks. 
It is common under hedges, and flowers in 
* June. é 
C. Bauhine calls it Geranium Robertianum; and 
almoft all the fucceeding writers copy the fame 
name. ' 
This plant is an aftringent of a very powerful 
kind; but is not enough known to thofe who 
might make its virtues a benefit to mankind. 
The farmers give it their cattle when they make 
bloody urine, or have bloody ftools; and -this 
with certain fuccefs: it fhould be brought into 
ufe in the fhops on the fame occafions, 
2. Shining knotty Cranefbill. 
Geranium lucidum nodofum foliis diffectis. 
The root is long, flender, divided, and of a 
red colour. 
| The firft leaves are numerous, and they are 
fupported on flender footftalks : they are divided 
deeply into five parts, and thofe again cut in at 
the edges: they very much refemble the leaves of 
the common herb Robert ; but they are not hairy, 
BRITISH 
SPR 2EECHIERES: 
as in that {pecies, but fmooth and fhining, as are 
alfo their ftalks. 
The main ftalks rife among them, and are 
more than a foot in length, but. not upright: 
they are red, of a fhining furface, and have fre- 
quent knots, which are large, and more glofly 
than the reft. 
The leaves on it refemble thofe from the root. 
The flowers are fmall, and of a faint red; and 
the feed-veffel, or beak, is long and flender. 
It is frequent about our fea-coafts, and in many 
inland places. I have obferved it among bufhes 
on the right-hand of the road to Chichefter. It 
flowers in June. 
Ray calls it Geranium lucidum faxatile foliis 
geranii Robertiani. 
It has the fimell of the former, and probably 
its virtues. 
3. Dove’s-foot Cranefbill. 
Geranium columbinum vulgare. 
The root is long, thick, divided into feveral 
parts, and furnifhed with fibres. 
The leaves rife in a large tuft: they have long, 
weak footftalks, of a pale whitith green: the. 
leaves are roundifh and fmall; they are divided 
into eight or ten deeper fegments at the edge, 
and thefe are again notched; but they are lefs 
cut in than thofe of many other of the dovefeors: 
they are of a pale green, and have fomething of 
the appearance of the mallow leat in miniature. 
The ftalks are round, weak, and a foot or 
more in height: they are numerous, branched, 
and of a pale green. 
The leaves are placed irregularly on thefe; and 
they refemble in all refpeéts thofe from the root, 
but that they are deeper cut at the edges. 
The flowers grow in confiderable numbers at 
the tops of the ftalks and branches; and they are 
of a beautiful purple, and moderately large. 
The feed-veflél is {mall and flender; it ftands 
enclofed in the cup at the bafe, and that is little 
and fmooth. ; 
" Itis common by way-fides, and flowersin June. 
~ C.Bauhine calls it Geranium folio malue rotundo, 
Others, Geranium columbinum, and Columbinum 
vulgare. 
Though common enough, it is not fo frequent 
as many of the others; and many a young ftudent 
has called the next fpecies by its name. 
The place where it is to be found neateft Lon- 
don-is by the fide of the road from’ Gray’s-Inn 
lane half a mile from the ftreet. 
Beha 4. Great 
