STUDIES OF PLANT LIFE 
native wilding, for its delicacy and harmless qualities are 
all that require notice about it. The traveller passes it by 
with scarcely a commendatory glance; its fleeting pale blue 
scentless blossoms, which fall at a touch, scarcely attract 
the little children when gathering flowers by the wayside 
brooks. It remains with the true lover of flowers, even if 
they be only homely weeds, to examine and appreciate the 
inimitable beauty and wisdom shown in their several parts, 
each so wisely fitted to perform its part according to the 
Divine Maker’s will. 
Woop GrraniuM—Geranium maculatum (L.). 
(PLATE V1.) 
There are but few flowers of the Cranesbill family in 
Canada. The one most worthy of notice is the Wood 
Geranium. This is a very ornamental plant; its favorite 
locality is in open grassy thickets, among low bushes, 
especially those tracts of country known as “ oak openings,” 
where it often reaches to the height of from two to three 
feet, throwing out many branches adorned with deep lilac 
flowers; the half-opened buds are very lovely. The blossom 
consists of five petals, obtuse, and slightly indented on their 
upper margins, and is lined and delicately veined with 
purple. The calyx consists of five pointed sepals; stamens 
ten; the anthers are of a reddish brown; styles five, 
cohering at the top. When the seed is mature these curl 
up, bearing the ripe brown seed adhering to the base of 
each one. The common name, Cranesbill, has been derived 
from the long grooved and stork-like beak composed of the 
styles. The Greek name of the plant means a crane. The 
whole plant is more or less beset with silvery hairs. The 
leaves are divided into about five principal segments; these 
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