P L A T E CXV. 



GERANIUM TO MEN TO SUM. 



Downy-leaved Geranium. 



CLASS XVI. ORDER IV. »/««//'■ ft** % 



1781. 



MONODELPHIA DECJNDRIA. Threads united. Ten Chives. 



Set 1 Geran. Grand'iflorum, 

 PL XII. Fol.1. 



ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER. 



Monogyna. Stigmata nuinque. 

 Feuctus roftratus, penta-coccus. 



One Pointal. Five Summits. 



Fruit furnifhed with long awns, five dry berries. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 



Geranium foliis ovatis, plicatis, eredtis, ferratis, 

 tomentofis ; floribus pentandris ; filamentis 

 duobus fuperioribus revolutis, ciliatis. 



Geranium with egg-fliaped leaves, plaited, up- 

 right, fawed, and down)-; flowers with five 

 fertile chives; the two upper threads rolled 

 back and fringed. 



REFERENCE TO THE PLATE. 



1. The Empalement. 



2. The Chives and Pointal, natural fizc. 



3. The Chives cut open, magnified. 



4. The Pointal, 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 1/94; is a dwarf growing, and rather delicate fpecics, 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 month 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. Lets of dung and more loam, than is neceiTary for moft Gera- 

 niums, will prcferve this plant beft through the winter; in which feafon, it fhould 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 ablurd, has found at all times its votaries, we 

 have daily experience; therefore cannot wonder at, though we may regret its confeijuent influence 

 on the many, who wiih to fignalize themfelves, under its delufive banner. This obfervation naturally 

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

 ney-leaved Cranes-hill is mentioned as " one of the rarcjl of the Geranium tribe;" are we to undcrftand 

 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 fcientific 

 Englifh, yet fhalt thou not lofe thy due weight, againft all thy opponents, in pure dei'criptive Eng- 

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

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

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

 known, and fettled, by that great mafter of the fcience, Linnreus; to whefe opinion ours ihall ever 

 bow, Englifh ones confonant, fhould be likewife adopted ; and that Heron's-bill for Erodium, Stork's- 

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

 Unfortunately we are, and have been, fo attached to old falhions, that we ttill mean to continue the 

 title Geranium, as it is apparently beft underftood; whether, in Englifh or Latin, defcriptive, or 

 fcientific; as long as the public lhall continue fo honourably to patronize the Botanift's Bepofitory. 



