124 



BRITISH FLOWERING PLANTS 



cup and try to place in it a sheet of paper, the paper 

 will, of course, be thrown into ridges. If these ridges 



be removed and so much 

 left as will lie smoothly 

 inside the cup, it will 

 be found that the paper 

 has been cut into lobes 

 more or less resembling 

 those of the cotyledons 

 of Tilia. Or if, con- 

 versely, a piece of paper 

 be cut out into lobes 

 resembling those of the 

 cotyledons, it will be 

 found that the paper 

 will fit the concavity 

 of the cup. The case is 

 almost like that of our 

 own hand, which can 

 be opened and closed 

 conveniently owing to 



Fig. 68.-Seedliug of Lime. ^^^ division of the fivC 



fingers. The Lime 

 flowers freely, but scarcely ever ripens its seeds in our 

 country. Nageli has calculated that a fine Lime tree 

 contains 20,000,000,000,000 cells. 



GEKANIACE.^ 



Geranium 



Our twelve British species of this beautiful genus, 

 while presenting considerable differences, agree in so 

 many respects that they may conveniently be considered 

 together. Five are perennial, generally with large 

 flowers ; seven are annual, with smaller flowers. They 

 are generally wayside plants or weeds of cultivation. 



