GERANIUM FAMILY. 79 



O. versicolor, the commoner and prettiest species, from small bulbs sends 

 np slender stems, 2' - 3' high, bearing at summit leaves of 3 almost linear leaf- 

 lets notched at the end, and slender 1 -flowered peduncles ; petals 1' long, white 

 or tinged with rose, with bright pink-red margins underneath, so that the blos- 

 som IS red when rolled up in the bud or closed in shade, but white above when 

 it opens in sunshine. 



• * * Cultivated from South America for the edible tubers. 

 O. crend;ta, the Oca of Peru, rather common in France, bears abundance 

 of -potato-like tubers as large as puUet's-eggs ; stem leafy, 2° high ; leaflets 

 obcordate ; peduncles several-flowered ; petals yellow, rather large, crenate or 

 several-notched at the end. 



2. LIMNANTHES. (Name from Greek words for marsA/ower; but in 

 fact the plant flourishes in merely moist soil.) (y 



Ii. Dougl^sii. Cult, for oi-naraent from California ; a low and spreading, 

 mostly smooth, and slightly succulent garden annual, with leaves of .'5-7 oblong 

 or lanceolate and often 3-.')-cleft leaflets, and rather neat flowers (in summer), 

 solitary on slender axillary peduncles ; tlie petals white with a yellow base, 

 wedge-oblong, notched at the end, twice the length of the calyx, about ^' long, 



3. PLCERKEA, FALSE MERMAID. (Named for Flaa-ke, a German 

 botanist.) ® 



F. proserpinacoldes, in marshes and wet alluvial soil ; a small and in- 

 significant plant, with the 3-5 leaflets lanceolate and entire, or rarely 2-3- 

 cleft ; the axillary andpeduneled flower inconspicuous (in spring and summer), 

 the oblong petals shorter than the calyx and entire. 



4. GEBANIUM, CRANESBILL. (From old Greek name for the Crane, 

 alluding probably to the long beak in fruit.) The following are wild species 

 of the country : the so-called Geraniums of cultivation belong to Pelargonium. 

 Sepals usually slender-pointed. Fl. spring and summer. 



G. maculatum, Wild or Spotted Cranesbill. Common in wood- 

 lands and open grounds ; stem erect from a stout root or rootstock, about 2° 

 high, hairy, branching and terminating in long peduncles bearing a pair of 

 flowers ; leaves palmately parted into 5-7 wedge-shaped divisions cut and cleft 

 at the end, sometimes wliitish-blotched ; petals wedge-obovate, light purple, 

 J' long, bearded on the short claw. 2/ 



G. Caroliui^num, Cakolina C. In open and mostly barren soil; 

 stems erect or soon diflFusely branched from the base, only 6' - 18' high ; leaves 

 jjalmately parted into 5 much cleft and cut divisions ; peduncles and pedicels 

 short ; flowers barely half as large as in the foregoing, the pale rose-colored pet- 

 als notched at the end. ® ® 



G. Boberti^num, Hekb Robert. Common N. in shady rocky places ; 

 very strong-scented, loosely hairy, diffusely spreading ; leaves finely cut, being 

 divided into 3 twice-pinnatifid divisions ; flowers small ; petals pink or red 

 purple. ® 



5. EBODIUM, STORKSBILL. (From Greek name for a Heron.) 



E. cicut&rium, Common S. Nat. from Eu., in sterile soil, but not com- 

 mon, except in Texas and California, where it greatly abounds ; low, hairy and 

 rather viscid ; the leaves mostly from the root, pinnate, and the leaflets finely 

 once or twice pinnatifld ; peduncle bearing an umbel of several small pinkish 

 flowers, in summer. ® @ 



6. PELABGONIUM, the GERANIUM, so-called, of house and sum- 

 mer-garden culture. (Name from Greek word for the Slm-k, from the beak of 

 the fruit, which is like that of Geranium. ) All are perennials, and most of the 

 common ones more or less shrubby, natives of the Cape of Good Hope ; in 

 cultivation so mixed up by crossing that students will hardly be able to make 

 out the species. The following are the types or originals of the commonest 

 Sorts. 



