AND ORNAMENTAL TREATMENT. 2>7 



PLATE 22. 



" What we specially need at present for educational purposes is to know, not the anatomy of plants, but their biography — 

 how and where they live and die, their tempers, benevolences, malignities, distresses, and virtues. We want them drawn from their 

 youth to their age — from bud to fruit. We ought to see the various forms of their diminished but hardy growth in cold climates 

 or poor soils : and their rank or wild luxuriances when full fed and warmly nursed ; and all this we ought to have drawn so accurately 

 that we might at once compare any given part of a plant with the same part of any other drawn on the like conditions." — RuSKIN. 



The Crane's-bills, or wild geraniums, are all plants well adapted to art work. Bentham, 

 in his British Flora, recognises twelve species ; other writers twelve to fourteen, the discrepancy- 

 arising from the fact, that some of the species are doubtful natives, and each writer at his discretion 

 excludes or includes these as he sees best, according to the evidence accessible to him. There is 

 a strong family likeness seen in the midst of the distinct individuality of each species, so that any 

 one who was familiar with some four or five species would have little difficulty in identifying the 

 others as belonging to the same genus. One marked feature is, that the flowers all grow on long 

 peduncles, each of these, except in one species, forking off into two pedicels bearing a single blossom. 

 This may be seen in the upper part of fig. 1 84, where the flower, seen in side view, is evidently 

 one of the two that will ultimately surmount the peduncle when the bud on the companion pedicel 

 has opened. It is very clearly seen in fig. 282. The only exception to this growth is seen in 

 the Geranium sanguineum ; in this the flowers are always found singly on the peduncle. As we 

 have had occasion, once or twice, to use the very similar terms, peduncle and pedicel, it will be 

 well just to give a few words to them before passing on. The peduncle is the stalk supporting 

 the flowers that are given off from it laterally or terminally. The little stalks that branch off from 

 the peduncle, and each support one blossom, are the pedicels. Another very curious feature, and 

 one confined to the Geranicecs, is seen in the arrangement for the dispersion of the ripened seeds ; 

 but as this is a matter of interest to the botanist rather than to the designer, we need not here 

 dwell upon it. > 



The Geranium pratenie, or blue Meadow Crane's-bill (the subject of our Plate), is one of 

 the largest of the genus, being frequently over two feet high. It grows, as the specific and familiar 

 English narrles imply, on pasture land, though it may also be found in moist thickets and country 

 lanes. Though local, it is generally distributed throughout England, while it is scarce in Scotland, 

 and not known at all in Ireland. The plant is found in flower from May to August, the size of its 

 blossoms rendering it very conspicuous; The colour of the blossoms is sufficient in itself to distin- 

 guish it from all our other species, most of which have flowers more or less tinged with pink, though 

 in the dusky Crane's-bill (C. phceum) the flowers are of a dark brownish-purple — a very unusual 

 colour, and one that attracts attention from its singularity rather than from its beauty. The leaves 

 of the present species are very large, and are more deeply cut than in any other members of the 

 genus. From their slight resemblance to the lower leaves of the Ranunculus acris, the plant is 

 sometimes known as the Crowfoot Crane's-bill. On the approach of autumn the leaves of several 

 of the geraniums turn a vivid crimson, as* for example, those of the herb Robert, or G. Robertianum, 

 the shining Crane's-bill (G. lucidum, fig; 282), and the present species, and, under these circum- 

 stances, have a beautiful effect in the midst of other vegetation. The twisting and overlapping of 

 the petals in the bud is a point ornamentally valuable : indications of it are seen in the opening 

 flower (fig. 185). Other species of our wild Crane's-bill^ that the designer will do well to fami- 

 liarise himself with, are the herb Robert (G. Robertianum), a plant beautiful both in foliage and 

 flower, and one of our commonest kinds ; the G. sanguineum, a plant with very large flowers and 

 richly-cut leaves; the wood-geranium (G. sylvaticum) ; the shining Crane's-bill {G. lucidum), figured 

 on plate 34 ; the Dove's-foot geranium (G. molle), a particularly ornamental plant, and one espe- 

 cially suited to the decoration of light fabrics, where delicacy and refinement are desired ; the cut- 

 leaved geranium (G. dissectum), a species with small purple flowers, but having very richly-cut 

 leaves, and the long-stalked geranium (G. columbinum). It scarcely seems desirable, having due 

 regard to our space, to enter at any great length into the special peculiarities of each of these 

 plants. Our readers will, however, have no difficulty in finding them out by referring, by the names 

 given, to any good illustrated work. 



Plant-colour may often prove as suggestive to the designer as plant-form. We do not 

 here refer so particularly to the tints of flowers, so beautiful in themselves and so infinite in 

 variety, since these we may naturally assume have received the loving attention of the true 

 follower of decorative art ; we are thinking now rather of the field for study open in the considera- 

 tion of the tints of the foliage, and more especially when the Autumnal influences have begun to 

 make themselves felt. The Elm, before losing its leaves, shows us a mass of rich yellow brown ; 

 in the Maple, the leaves are one mass of tawny yellow ; in the Guelder Rose, the whole tree 

 becomes brilliant crimson ; while in the Brambles, unlike the other examples, a whole host of 



