PLATE CXV. 



GERANIUM TOMENTOSUM 



-- r. ■_ 



Dow7iy4eaved Geranium, 



CLASS 



XVI. 



ORDER 



IV. 



1781. 



MONODELPHIA DECJNDRIA, Threads united. Ten Chives. 



See Geran. Grandifloruvi , 



PIXIL VoLL 



( 



ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER. 



MoNOGYNA. Stigmata quinque. 

 Fructus roftratuSj penta-coccus. 



One PoTNTAL. Five Summits. 



Fruit furniftied with long awns^ five dry berries 



SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 



Geranium foliis ovatis, pHcatiSj ereftls^ ferratis, 



tomentolis j floribus pentandris ; filamentis 

 duobus fuperioribus revolutis^ ciliatis. 



Geranium witH egg-fliaped leaves, plaited, up- 

 right, fawed, and downy; flowers with five 

 fertile chives; the two upper threads rollevl 

 back and fringed. 



REFERENCE TO THE PLATE 



1. The Empalement. 



2. The Chives and Pointal, natural fize. 



3. The Chives cut open, magnified. 



4. The Pointalj and Seed-bud 



The Downy-leaved Geranium, according to the Hort. Cantab, of Mr. Donn, introduced from the 

 Cape of Good Hope, in the year 1794; is a dwarf growing, and rather delicate fpecies, of this 

 extended and very mutable tribe of plants; producing its flowers about the month of Auguft. It is 

 to be increafed from the feeds, which fometimes ripen; or by cuttings, taken off in the montli of 

 March, and placed on a gentle hotbed; but if delayed to be made till much later, it will be found 

 difficult to propagate by this mode. Lefs of dung and more loara^ than is neceffary for raoft Gera- 

 niums, will preferve this plant beft through the winter; in which feafon, it fliould be kept in a dry 

 and airy part of the greenhoufe, to avoid the damps, which otherwife, often prove fatal to it. 



That the charm of novelty, however erroneous or abfurd, has found at all times its votaries, wc 

 have daily experience; tlierefore cannot wonder at, though we may regret its confequent influence 

 on the many, who wifli to fignalize themfelves, under its delufive banner. This obfervntlon naturally 

 obtruded on our imagination, upon the perufal of the laft Number of the Bot. Mag. where the Kid- 

 ney-leaved Cranes-hill is mentioned as " one of the rareji of the Geranium irlhe-j' are we to underfinid 



Geranium in this place as a new title for a natural order of plants; or, as folely confined to one 

 Genus? Poor Geranium! although thou haft been fo long excluded from thy ftation, in fcicutific 

 Englllh, yet flialt thou not lofe thy due weight, againft all thy opponents, in pure defcriptive Eng- 

 liih profe; and perhaps fome day may be deemed, by the learned, worthy a place amongft Enghm 

 Genera. With Mr. Donn, we humbly conceive the old title Crane's-bill, as ill adapted to Uie three 

 Genera of M. L'Heritier; and that, if new Latin names are to be foifted on us, for plants already mtU 

 known, and fettled, by that great mafter of the fcience, Linnaeus; to whofe opinion ours fliall ever 

 bow, Englifli ones confonant, fliould be likewife adopted; and that Heron's-bill for Erodium, StorVs- 

 bill for Pelargonium, and Crane's-bill for Geranium, will prove no greater puzzle to the EngUfli Botanift. 

 Unfortunately we are, and have been, fo attached to old faftiions, that we ftill mean to continue the 

 title Geranium, as it is apparently beft underftood; w^hether. In Englilh or Latin, defcriptive, c 

 fcicntific; as long as the public fliall continue fo honourably to patronize the Bolanift s Repofitory. 



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