XXVIII. GERANIACEJi:. 177 



chiefly Amerioan, is represented in Australia by species of an extratropical European as well as 

 Amerioan type, and the fourth is almost entirely South African. The Order is very closely allied 

 to Zygophyllece. — Benth. 



Tribe I. CteranleBB.— FtoHves injiilar. Sepals imbricate, (ilmidx alternate with the netaU. 

 Anthenferous stamens as many or double or treble the number ofpetaU. 

 Capsule beaked, the lobes 1-seeded, and elastically rolled upwards along the 

 beak. Leaves toothed, lobed, or divided. 



Anthers usually 10. Tails of the carpels glabrous inside 1. Geranium. 



Anthers 5. Tails of the carpels bearded inside 2. Ebodiuw. 



Tribe II. Pelarg-oniete.— .fifu ylands. Stamem declinate. 

 Flowers irregular, the upper sepal furnished with a linear tube or spur adnate 



to the pedicel. Anthers 5, 6, or 7 . 3. Pelargonium. 



Tribe III. Oxalldeae. — Flowers regular. Sepals imbricate. Glands none. Stigmas capitate. 

 Capsule opening loculioidally, the valves adhering to the axis. Leaves with 3 



or many leaflets 4_ Qxalis. 



1. GERANIUM, Linn. 



(From supposed resemblance of capsule to the head and beak of a crane.) 



Flowers regular. Sepals 5. Petals 5. Glands 5, alternating with the petals. 

 Stamens 10, all usually bearing anthers. Ovary 5-lobed, beaked, the beak 

 terminating in the style, with 5 short stigmatic lobes. Ovules 2 in each cell. 

 Capsule-lobes 1-seeded, separating from the placenta- bearing axis, enclosing the 

 seed, and curled upwards on a long awn detached from the beak, and glabrous 

 inside. Radicle of the embryo turned back on the folded or convolute cotyledons. 

 Herbs, rarely undershrubs. Leaves opposite or alternate, toothed, lobed, or 

 divided, the lobes or segments palmate, or rarely (in species not Australian) 

 pinnate. Peduncles axillary or in the forks, 1 or 2-flowered. 



A large genus, widely distributed over nearly the whole globe, but more abundant in the 

 northern hemisphere, and rare within the tropics. The Queensland species is also in New 

 Zealand and S. America, and extends up the whole length of that continent to the N.W., and in 

 a slight variety also over most temperate parts of the northern hemisphere, but does not occur 

 in S. Africa. — Benth. 



1. G-. dissectum (referring to the cut leaves), Linn.; DC. Frod. i. 643, var. 

 australe ; Benth. Fl. Austr. i. 296. Usually perennial, forming at length a thick 

 rootstook, descending into a taproot. Stems diffuse, procumbent or shortly erect, 

 more or less hairy with spreading or reflexed hairs, or hoary with a short pubes- 

 cence. Leaves on long petioles, nearly orbicular in their circumscription, deeply 

 divided into 5 or 7 segments, each one again more or less cut into 3 or more lobes, 

 varying from broadly euneate-oblong to linear, and usually pubescent or hairy, 

 especially underneath. Peduncles 2-flowered, or rarely 1 or 3-flowered. Sepals 

 3-nerved, obtuse, acute, or very shortly mucronate ; usually 2 or 3 lines long. 

 Petals cuneate-obovate, entire or slightly notched, from rather longer than the 

 sepals to twice as long. Anthers all perfect. Lobes of the capsule sprinkled 

 with hairs, not wrinkled. Seeds covered with minute reticulations or rarely 

 smooth.— Hook. f. Fl. N. Zeal. \. 89, and Fl. Tasm. i. 56 ; F. v. M. PI. Vict. i. 

 178 ; G. pilosum, Forst.; DO. Prod. i. 642 ; Nees, in PI. Preiss. i. 162 ; O. 

 parnflorum, Willd.; DO. Prod. i. 642 ; G. philonothum, DO. Prod. i. 689 (from 

 the character given) ; G. }}otentilloide.s, L'H6r., DO. Prod. i. 639 ; Hook. f. Fl. N. 

 Zeal. i. 40; Fl. Tas. i. 57 ; G. australe, Nees, in PI. Preiss. i. 162. 



Hab.: Southern parts. 



The original form of G. dissectum, as generally diffused over the temperate regions of the 

 northern hemisphere, in the Old World, is an annual, with the petals very rarely exceeding the 

 sepals, and the seeds very prominently reticulate. In the eastern United States of N. America, 

 under the name of G. carolinianum, Linn., it is also annual or biennial, but has the petals often 

 rather larger and the reticulations of the seeds are finer and less prominent. West of the 

 Eocky Mountains the stock often appears to be perennial, and then it is undistinguishable from 



