GEEANIUM 



GERANIUM OBDEB 



EEODIUM 287 



segments. Flowers in summer, crimson 

 or blood-red, about 1^ in. across. The 

 variety Icmcastriense has large flesh- 

 coloured flowers with purple veins. It 

 grows only 4-6 in. high. There is also a 

 white-flowered form of (?. aanguvneum. 



Culture dc. as above. This species 

 flourishes in light sandy soils, and is 

 excellent for massing in the flower beds, 

 borders, rockeries, banks &c. 



G. striatum. — A native of S. Europe 

 with 3-5-lobed cut and toothed leaves. 

 Flowers from May to October, pink, with 

 darker veins ; petals notched. 



Culture do. as above. 



G. sylvaticum. — A British plant 2-3 

 in. high, with 5-7-lobed, deeply toothed 

 leaves. Flowers in summer, less than 

 1 in. across, purple or blue, with crimson 

 veins ; white in the variety alhum. 



Culture do. as above. A good plant 

 for edgings and borderings, and also for 

 the rock garden in light well-drained but 

 moist soil. 



G. tuberosum. — A native of S. Europe, 

 9 in, or more high, having a roundish 

 tuberous rootstock and knotted forked 

 stems. Leaves many-parted, with linear 

 pinnatifld serrated lobes. Flowers in early 

 summer, purple, large, numerous, with 

 deeper coloured veins, petals 2-cleft. 

 There is a variety called Charlesi from 

 Afghanistan which may be recognised by 

 having a series of roundish superimposed 

 tubers, and by the leaf segments being 

 less lobed than in the type. 



Culture do. as above. In cold northern 

 parts of the kingdom it may be advisable 

 to cover the tuberous rootstocks with 

 bracken or a heap of dry leaves in severe 

 winters. In such localities the roots 

 should be planted rather deeply, as a 

 further protection, but the soil must be 

 thoroughly well drained. 



ERODIUM (Hbkon's Bill; Stoek's 

 Bill). — A genus of about 50 species of 

 pretty herbs, very rarely shrubs, often 

 with jointed knotty branches. Leaves 

 opposite or alternate, toothed, lobed, or 

 often pinnately dissected. Peduncles 

 axillary, with flowers usually in umbels. 

 Flowers regular or scarcely irregular. 

 Sepals 5, imbricate. Petals 5, hypogy- 

 nous, imbricate, 2 upper ones sometimes 

 deficient. Stamens 5, alternating with 

 the 5 scale-like staminodes. Disk of 5 

 glands, alternate with the petals. Ovary 



.5 -lobed. Tails of carpels spirally twisted 

 and curling upwards. 



Cidfure and Propagation. — Erodi- 

 ums, which ornit a strong peculiar smell 

 when bruised, thrive in a sandy well- 

 drained soil in sunny places, and are 

 excellent plants for the rock garden or 

 border. They are easily increased by 

 division of the rootstock, either in early 

 autumn or in spring, or from seed sown 

 in cold frames either as soon as ripe or 

 in spring. Indeed, there is practically no 

 difference in the treatment of Erodiums 

 and Geraniums, which resemble each 

 other a good deal in appearance and 

 blossom. The cultural remarks under 

 Geranium may be applied to each of the 

 following species. 



E. alpinum. — A native of the S. Italian 

 mountains, with rather smooth, twice pin- 

 nately cut leaves. Flowers from spring to 

 autumn, ptirple, about 1 in. across, 6-10 

 in an umbel. 



Culture do. as above. 



E. carnifolium A native of the 



Spanish mountains 6-10 in. high. Leaves 

 alternately pinnate, 8-9 in. long, leaflets 

 deeply cut, twice divided, the midrib 

 covered with soft, downy hairs beneath. 

 Flowers in spring and early summer, red, 

 about i in. across, 8-10 in an umbel. 



Culture do. as above, 



E. hymenodes {E. triloha,tum). — A_ 

 native of the Atlas Mountains 6-15 in. 

 high, with somewhat 3-lobed, very 

 blunt, deeply toothed leaves. Flowers 

 in spring and summer, puik, the upper 

 petals with a red-brown blotch at the 

 base. 



Culture dc. as above. 



E. macradenum (E. glandulosum). — 

 A stemless Pyrenean plant about 6 in, 

 high. Leaves twice divided, forming 

 tufts, clothed with a glandular down, and 

 possessing a peculiar aromatic fragrance. 

 Flowers in summer, pale violet, or flesh 

 colour, with purple-rose veins, the two 

 upper petals having a dark spot at the 

 base. 



Culture dc. as above. 



E. Manescavi. — A native of the 

 Pyrenees 1--2 ft. high. Leaves pinnate, 

 with oblong, deeply cut leaflets. Flowers 

 m summer, purplish-red, from 5-15 in an 

 umbel-like truss. 



Culture dc. as above. 



