228 GERANIACEAE. 



Family 51. GERANIACEAE. Geranium Family. 



Annual or perennial herbs; leaves mostly basal, alternate or 

 opposite, often with stipules; flowers solitary or clustered, per- 

 fect, regular, commonly symmetrical, the parts in fives; sepals 

 persistent; stamens usually twice as many as the petals, mostly 

 in two sets, those alternate with the petals sometimes sterile; 

 ovary 1, deeply 3-5-lobed and 3-5-celled; ovules 2 in each cavity; 

 fruit a capsule; carpels 1-seeded, separating when mature from 

 the axis. 



Leaves palmate, variously cleft or divided. 300. Geranium, 228. 



Leaves pinnately compound (in ours). 301. Erodium, 228. 



300. GERANIUM. Wild Geranium. 



Annual or perennial herbs; leaves palmately-lobed, cleft or 

 divided, with stipules; flowers regular, on axillary 1-2-flowered 

 peduncles; sepals 5; petals 5, hypogynous; stamens 10, rarely 5, 

 generally 5 longer and 5 shorter; ovary 5-lobed, 5-celled, beaked 

 with a compound style; capsule 5-celled, each 1-seeded, and long- 

 tailed, at maturity separating from the long beak of the recep- 

 tacle, splitting from below upward. 



Perennials; flowers large. G. oreganum. 



Annuals; flowers small. 



Seeds smooth or nearly so. 



Carpels canescent, not rugose. G. pusittum. 



Carpels glabrous, rugose. G. molle. 



Seeds reticulate or pitted. 



Flowers deep purple; seeds pitted. G. dissectum. 



Flowers pale purple; seeds reticulately ridged. 



Peduncles short; inflorescence compact. G. carolinianum. 



Peduncles long; inflorescence loose. 



Style-branches 4-6 mm. long. G. bichnellii. 



Style-branches 3 mm. long. G. laxum. 



Geranium oreganum Howell. Perennial with a stout crown; stems 30-60 

 cm. high, sparsely retrorse pubescent; leaf blades 5-7-parted, the segments 

 cuneate and irregularly toothed, sparsely appressed pubescent especially on 

 the nerves; petioles long, retrorsely pubescent; inflorescence glandular; sepals 

 oblong-ovate, aristate; petals obovate, 12-15 mm. long, purple; carpels puberu- 

 lent. 



In open places, Willamette Valley, Oregon. 



Geranium pusillum Burm. f . Annual, spreading, finely-pubescent, the weak 

 stems 15-30 cm. long; leaves 1-3 cm. broad, 7-9-cleft into equal cuneate- 

 oblong lobes, these 3-toothed at apex; peduncles scattered, 2-flowered; flowers 

 pink or violet, 4-5 mm. broad; sepals acute, not awned; petals notched; 

 anther-bearing stamens only 5; carpels canescent, small, including the tails 

 about 1 cm. long; seeds smooth. 



A weed in lawns and waste places. 



