438 XXXII. GERANiACE^T (Edgeworth & Hook, f.) [Monsonia. 



A diffuse annual herb or undershrub ; branches pubescent and glandular. _ Leaves 

 I-I4 in., long-petioled, obtuse or muoronate, repand-toothed, glabrate above, pilose and 

 pubescent beneath ; stipules subulate. Peduncles long, sharply deflexed at the brac- 

 teoles. Sepals obovate, awned, densely pubescent with long hairs. Petals violet or 

 pink, 3-veined, crumpled, scarfiely. exceeding the sepals. i'l/ameBfe cilia te. Carpels 

 acute, stipitate, obliquely truncate with 2-3. wrinkles at the top, roughly hairy; 

 beak 3 in. 



2. nx. heliotroploides, Cav. ; Boiss. Fl. Orient, i. 897 ; annual or 

 perennial, leaves petioled ovate ovate-cordate or rhomboid minutely toothed, 

 sometimes obscurely lobed hoary above villous beneath, petiole and scape 

 clothed with very long white deciduous hairs, sepals sUky or hoary 

 mucronate. M. mallica, Edgw. in Jour. Linn. Soc. vi. 200. 



Pakjab ; 'Mow\\a,n, EUgeworth; beyond the Indus in Waziristan, .Sietoarf; Sindh, in 

 the Hill range, Vicary. — DiSTiiiB. Westwards to Egypt. 



A small white annual herb, or with a well-developed woody rootstock. Leaves 

 \-l in. long, chiefly radical, very variable in shape, coriaceous, densely silky and 

 villous beneath ; petiole longer than the blade. Scapes 2-8 in , erect, slender. 

 Flowers \-^ in. diam., imjbelled. Sepals oblong, at length obovate and enlarged in 

 fruit. PetaU obovate-spathulate, not exceeding the sepals. Stamens 16, slightly 

 6-adelphous at the base." Fruit 3 in. ; carpels narrow, stipitate, hairy, keeled, with two 

 transverse wrinkles at the top. — The Indian specimens are usually but not always 

 annual, and never so large as the Persian and Arabian specimens. The structure of 

 tlie fruit is identical with that of Mrodiwm stipaceum, but the stamens are very 

 different. 



3. CERAZTXUia, Linn. 



Herbs or undershrubs. Leaves opposite or alternate, stipulate. Peduneks 

 axillary, bracteate, 1-2-flowered, or pedicels umbelled. Flowers regular. 

 Sepah 5, imbricate. Petals 5, hypogynous, imbricate, alternating with 5 

 glands. Stamens 10, usually all anther-bearing, rarely 5 without anthers, 

 free or shortly monodelphous. Ovary 5-lobed, 5-celled, beaked ; styles 5, 

 stigmatose longitudinally, ovules superposed. Capsule 5-lobed, 5-ceIled, 

 cells 1-seeded, carpels usually dehiscent ventrally, often separating septi- 

 iragaUy from the axis, their beaks elastically coiling upwards from the 

 base to the apex of the axis. Seeds with scanty albumen or ; embryo 

 with the cotyledons induplicate or convolute incumbent. — Distmb. Species 

 about 100, natives chiefly of cold temperate regions in the Northern 

 Hemisphere ; they are very difficult of discrimination. 



Sect. 1. — Peduncles axillary and terminal, solitary, 2-flowered. Flower- 

 buds oblong or ovoid, not pj^ramidal. Sepals not dilated or subcordate at 

 the base. Carpels, with their beaks separating elastically from the axis, 

 not wrinkled. — Hootstock stout, perennial. 



* Flowers large, an inch or upwards in diameter. 



t Petals rejlexed. 



1. 6. retractum, Fdgew. <& Hook f. ; taU, stout, branched, glandular- 

 hairy, leaves 5-7 partite segments obtuse deeply lobed and cut, stipules 

 large, bracts linear very slender, sepals shortly awned, petals reflected, 

 filaments nearly glabrous. 



SiKKiM Himalaya; Tungu, alt. 12-13,000 ft., /. I). S. 



Stems 2-4 feet, erect. Leaves 3 in. diam , shortly pubescent on both surfaces ; 

 lower petioles long ; stipules J in., broadly oblong, ovate or obtuse. Peduncle and re- 

 fracted pedicels long, clothed with spreading hairs. SepcHs ^ in., membranous, glan- 



