80 XIII. GEEANIACEAE. {Geranium. 



exceeding them, red-purple. Carpels with long erect hairs ; beaks hairy or 

 do-wny. Seeds reticulated or pitted. — Benth., Fl. Austr. i. 296. Var. caroli- 

 nianum, Hook, f., Fl. N.Z. i. 37, Handbk. 36. 



Var. pilosum. Stems erect or spreading, clothed with spreading hairs. Seeds pitted. — 

 G. patagonicum. Hook, f., PI. Antarc. ii. 252. 



Var. patulum. Usnally spreading, clothed with retrorse or spreading hairs. Seeds reticu- 

 lated. — G. retrorsum, DC, Prod. 1. G. patulum, 6. Porst., Prod. n. 531. Perennial. 



Var. glabratum. Stems prostrate, stout, glabrate or nearly glabrous. Leaves 3-5-partite to 

 below the middle ; segments shortly pinnatifid or lobed ; tips subacute. Sepals broadly oblong, 

 awned. Carpels glabrate or pubescent. Seeds reticulated ; beak glabrous or downy. 



NOETH and SOUTH Islands; KERMADEC Islands: CHATHAM Islands: common in the 

 North, less frequent in the South. Also in North and South America, Australia. 



Var. glabratum appears to be confined to the North Island. It looks very different from the 

 forms with much-divided leaves, but the characters are not sufficiently distinctive to warrant its 

 separation. It is certainly perennial, but the other forms are often annual. 



2. G. microphyllum, Hook. /., Fl. Antarc. i. 8, /. 5. A prostrate 

 straggling perennial with numerous slender branches, 6in.-18in. long, pubes- 

 cent or clothed with short spreading hairs. Leaves on long petioles, orbicular, 

 cut to below the middle into 3—7 broad or narrow lobes, more or less cuneate at 

 the base ; lobes toothed but not pinnatifid. Peduncles 1- rarely 2-flowered. 

 Sepals ovate-lanceolate, with short awns, pubescent. Petals white, exceeding 

 the sepals, entire or retuse. Carpels smooth, unequally pubescent. Seeds 

 minutely longitudinally striated, scarcely reticulated or dotted. — G. potentil- 

 foicfe*, L'Herit. &» DC." Prod. i. 639; Hook, f., Fl. N.Z. i. 40. G. dissedum., 

 var., Benth., Fl. Austr. i. 296. G. australe, Nies in PI. Preiss. i. 162. 



Prom the KEEMADEC to the AUCKLAND Islands : common. Ascends to 2,800ft. Also 

 in Australia, &c. 



This is united with Q. dissedum by Bentham and Mueller, but, as it seems to me, without 

 cause. Certainly the seeds difier in shape and in the narrow reticulations from any form of that 

 plant in New Zealand. 



3. Gr. sessiliflorum, Cav., Diss. 198, t. 77, f. 2. Perennial. More or less 

 silky in all its parts. Rootstock stout and woody. Leaves iin.— Jin. in diameter 

 on slender petioles, crowded, 3-7-partite ; segments broad, lobed ; stipules 

 broad. Flowering stems very short or 0. Peduncles short, 1- rarelv 2- 

 flowered. Sepals broadly oblong, shortly awned, silky. Petals exceeding the 

 sepals, retuse, white. Carpels hairy. Seeds smooth. G. brevicaule, Hook., 

 Journ. Bot. i. (1834) 252; Hook, f., Fl. N.Z. i. 40. 



NOETH and SOUTH Islands; STEWART Island; from Lower Waikato southwards. 

 Ascends to 3,000ft. Nov. to Jan. Also in Puegia, Chili, and Australia. 



4. G. Traversii, Hook. /., Handbk. 726. Perennial. Stems prostrate, 

 6in.-18in. long or more. Hoary with dense silvery pubescence. Radical 

 leaves on long petioles, orbicular, lin.-2in. in diameter, 5-7-lobed to the 

 middle; lobes toothed, silky on both surfaces. Stipules large, ovate-acuminate. 

 Cauline ' leaves smaller. Peduncles 1-flowered, with 2 linear-acuminate bracts 

 about the middle. Flowers fin. in diameter, handsome. Sepals broadly ovate 

 acute, scarcely awned. Petals broadly obovate, entire, whitish-red. Carpels 

 silky. Seeds finely reticulated. 



