178 XXVIII. GEKANIACE.^. [Gcnnuum. 



some Australian forms. The commonest Australian form frequently sent from extratropical 

 S. America, and, extends all along the mountainous regions of that continent to IMexico and the 

 llocky Mountains, often apparently together with and passing into the northern annual variety. 

 The Australian plant again, both in that country and in New Zealand, is very variable, and may 

 be generally subdivided into two principal races, although I have, after repeated trials, found it 

 impossible to distribute our numerous specimens quite satisfactorily into the two groups, viz.: — 



u. pilosiim. Boot thick. Stems erect, ascending or procumbent, usually hirsute. Seeds 

 strongly reticulate. Common on downs country, the rootstock greatly relished by sheep. 



h. jwtetitilloideK. Eoot and stock less thickened. Stems more slender and prostrate, less 

 hairy, and usually only slightly hoary with more appressed pubescence. Seeds more finely 

 reticulate, or rarely almost smooth. To this variety belongs generally the G. jwtentilloides of 

 authors, and G. australe, Nees. It appears to be rather the morec ommon form in the East, whilst 

 the var. pttomim is more frequent in the West. But both are found throughout extratfopieal 

 Australia. — Bmth, Common on coast side of range. 



2. ERODIUM, L'Her. 



(Fruit supposed to resemble the head and beak of the heron.) 



Flowers regular or nearly so. Sepals 5. Petals 5. Glands 5, alternating with 

 the petals. Stamens 5 bearing anthers, opposite the sepals, and 5 staminodia, 

 usually scale-like, alternating with them. 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 

 sfeed and curled upwards on a long elastic awn, which separates from the beak 

 and is usually twisted and bearded inside with long hairs. Eadicle of the embryo 

 turned back on the folded or convolute cotyledons. — Herbs or rarely undershrubs. 

 Leaves unequally opposite or alternate, pinnately or rarely ternately lobed or 

 divided. Peduncles axillary, bearing an umbel of several flowers, or rarely 

 1 -flowered. 



The species are numerous in Europe, North Africa, and temperate Asia, 2 or 3 are natives of 

 S. Africa, and 2 or 3 more are now widely dispersed as weeds over many parts of the globe. 

 Two of these are in Australia, one of them perhaps indigenous, but the common Australian 

 species is endemic. — Benth. 



Leaves of 3 lobed or divided segments, the middle one the largest .... 1. K. cygiwrum. 

 Leaves pinnate with deeply-lobed narrow segments . . 2. K. cicutarium. 



1. E. cygnorum (swan-like), Nec^, in PL Preisx. i. 162 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. 

 i. 297. An annual or biennial, with the habit of the coarser forms of 

 E. cicutarium, sometimes slightly pubescent, sometimes very hispid, with the 

 hairs of the stem spreading or reflexed. Leaves deeply 3-lobed or divided to the 

 base into 3 lobes or segments, usually obovate or cuneate, and more or less 

 deeply toothed or again 8-lobed, the central lobe larger, broader, and more lobed 

 than the lateral ones. Flowers blue, usually 2 to 5 in the umbel. Sepals 

 pointed. Petals obovate, scarcely exceeding the calyx or shorter. Filaments 

 broad at the base, with subulate points ; staminodia scale-like, often toothed. 

 Capsule-lobes glabrous, hairy or hispid ; beak usually above 2in. lone. — F v M 

 PL Vict. i. 172. 



Hab.: Many parts in the south ; Peak Downs, t\ v. M.; Maranoa Biver, Mitchell. 



2. E. cicutarium (Hemlock-leaved), UHh-.; DC. Prod. i. 646 ; Beiith. Fl. 

 Aitstr. i. 298. Usually an annual, but often forming a dense tuft, with a thick 

 taproot, which may last over a second year, always more or less covered with 

 spreading hairs, which are sometimes viscid. Stems sometimes exceedingly 

 short, but lengthening out to near 1ft. Leaves mostly radical, pinnate, the 

 segments distinct and deeply pinnatifid, with narrow, more or less cut lobes. 

 Peduncles erect, bearing an umbel of from 2 or 3 to 10 or 12 small purple or pink 



