GERANIACE^-GERANIUM FAMILY 



GARDEN GERANIUM. PELARGONIUM 



Pelargdnium hortdrum. 



Pelargonium, because the fruit is long and slender like a stork's 

 bill. 



The genus Pelargonium includes the race of garden Geraniums. 

 Tender to frost. Summer. 



Stem. — Shrubby or fleshy, in the erect forms becoming a leafy bush. 



Leaves. — ^Variable, usually scented, pleasantly or otherwise. 



Flowers. — Usually borne in terminal corymb, in color varying 

 through reds to white. 



Sepals. — Five, acute, hairy. 



Petals. — Five, the two on the upper side differing from the rest more 

 or less in size and shape. 



Stamens. — Usually seven anthers; filaments often ten. 



Ovary. — Five-celled; style one; stigrrias five. 



Fruit. — Consists of five one-seeded carpels, each with a long tail by 

 which it is attached to the style. 



The commonly cultivated forms of Pelargoniums are all descend- 

 ants of South African plants and can be grouped into four general 

 horticultural classes: Fish Geraniums, Ivy-Leaved Geraniums, 

 Rose Geraniums, and Pelargoniums. 



The Fish, Horseshoe, Zonal — the bedding types— are known to 

 gardeners as Geraniums and in their present hybrid forms have 

 been named by Professor Bailey Pelargonium hortorum. These 

 are believed to be in the main descendants of two species: Pelar- 

 gonium zonhle, characterized by the horseshoe mark on the leaves, 



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