G E R 



OERjESTIUM, a country of the Ptloponncfus, in 

 Arcadia. 



GERjIiSTUS, a town and port of the idand of Eii- 

 baa, upon tlie S.W. coall, about 15 miles from Caryftus ; 

 nuvv Gerefto. 



GEllALFINGEN, in Geography, a town of Swiizcr- 

 laiid ; four miles S.E. of Soleure. 



GE RAN DRUM, in Jm-ient Geography, a town of the 

 ifiand of Cyprus. 



GERANGER, in Geography, a town of Norway, in 

 the diocefe ofDronlheim; 22 miles S.S.W. of RomI'dal. 



GERANIA, m Bolany, the 73d natural order in Juf- 

 iieu's fyftem, or the 13th of his 13111 clafs. The foUowinc; 

 is liis definition of this, one of his mofl important and 

 extenfive claffes. Cotyledons two. Petals many. Sta- 

 mens inferted below the germen. — The Calyx is of one or 

 many leaves, very rarely deficient. Petals hypogynous, or 

 inferted below the piUil, definite in number, very rarely in- 

 definite, for the moft part diftinft, but fometimes conneftcd 

 at the Ijafe, into a fort of falfe monopetalous corolla ; they 

 are rarely wanting. Stamens inferted below the pillil, de- 

 finite or indefinite, the filaments often diftinft, fometimes 

 united all together into one tube, more rarely coUefted into 

 fcveral bundles ; anthers dilUndl, or united only in Viola 

 and Impat'iens (called Balfamhm by JnOleu). Germen fupe- 

 rior, in many fimple, in foine multiplied ; (lyle fuigle, or 

 ftigma 



multiplied, or deficient ; ftigma one, or feveral. Fruit fu 

 perior, fometimes fimple, of one or many cells ; fometimes, 

 but more rarely, multiplied, each pericarp of one cell. 



The order of Gcranta is thus defined by JufTieu. Calyx 

 fimple, either of five leaves, or of one deeply five-cleft, 

 permanent. Petals five. Stamens definite, their filaments 

 united at the bafe, fometimes all fertile, fometimes part of 

 them abortive. Germen fimple ; llyle one ; ftlgmas five, 

 oblong. Fruit either of five cells, or of five capfules, 

 each cell or capfule containing one or two feeds. Corciilum 

 without a perifperm, (or albumen). Stem either fomewhat 

 {hrubb)^ or herbaceous. Leaves with ftipulas, oppofite or 

 alternate. Floxuers, in the former cafe, oppofite to each 

 leaf ; in the latter, axillary. 



Juffieu enumerates only two genera as properly belonging 

 to this order, Geranium, which includes Erodium and Pelar- 

 gonium julUy feparated from that genus by the late M. 

 L'Heriticr; fee Erodium : and Monfonia, which is but 

 too nearly akin to Geranium. He fubjoins three genera as 

 related to this order ; Tropxolum, whofe affinity is very ob- 

 fcure ; Jmpaliens (his Balfamina), which is perhaps ftill lefs 

 akin to it ; and Oxalis, which laft we would rather refer to ' 

 the Rulctcem, an order which Juffieu feems but imperfeftly 

 to have ftudied. He indeed, like Einnsus, hints fome re- 

 lationdiip between Oxalis and Trihuliis or Zygnphyllum, both 

 which lall he ilations in the firft feftion of his Rutace<e ; but 

 we prefume to think they are there mifplaced, and that 

 Oxalis is not fo much allied to them as to the real Rutaeex, 

 fo many of whicli are found in New Holland. In all fuch 

 doubtful cafes however, which form the difficulty and the 

 pedantry of the ftudy of natural orders, and in which our 

 chief guide being conjefture, humility and candour are moil 

 becoming, we merely aim at collecting obfervations. The 

 unnatural combinations complained of in a fyftem profefledly 

 artificial, cannot be half fo hurtful as error mafiied in au- 

 thority in the details of a pretended natural one. The 

 doubts and hints of the excellent Juffieu are in themfelves 

 inftrnftive, but how few are content like him to confefs their 

 doubts ! He has at length acquired a pupil worthy of 

 himfelf in this country, Mr. R. Brown, whofe opportuni- 

 ties of obfervation, among the paradoxical novelties of 



G E R 



New Holland, have given ample fcope t« his inteTligeine 

 and afiiJuity. 



Gkbakia, in Andent Geography, a town of Thrace.— » 

 Alfo, a town of Phrygia. — AUb, an ancient town of thePelo. 

 ponnofus, in Laconia, on the confines of MelTenia.- — Alfo, a 

 mountain of Greece, in the territory of Megaris, towards 

 the illhmus of the Peloponnefus. 



GERA'NIS, or Geranium, in Surgery, a bandage for- 

 merly applied to fraftured coUar-boijes, and diflocated (boul- 

 ders. The word is derived from yr^avo.-, a crane, becaufe the 

 fnape of the bandage was thought to refcmble an extended 

 crane. 



GERANITES, y^vMr, a crane, in Natural Hijlory, a 

 name given by fome authors to fuch pieces of agate, or any 

 other of the femi-pellucid gems, as have round fpots in them, 

 refembling in colour the eye of a crane. 



GERANIUM, in Botany, yr^avr/; of the ancient Greeks, 

 admirably named from ytnmr, a crane, the germen and ftyle 

 refembling the head and beak of that bird. Crane's-bill.— 

 Linn. Gen. 350. Schreb. 458. Willd. Sp. PI. v. 3. G()Ci. 

 L'Herit. in Ait. Hort. Kew'. v. 2. 432. Mart. Mill. Did. 

 V. 2. Sm. El Brit. 729. Jufl". 268. Lamarck lUuftr. t. J73. 

 f. I. Gsrtn. t. 79, pratenfe. Clafs and order, Alonadelphia 

 Dccandria. Nat. Ord. Gruinales, Linn. Gerania, i\iR. 



Gen. Ch. Cat. Perianth inferior, of five ovate, acute, 

 concave, permanent leaves. Cor. regular, of five large, 

 obovate or obcordate, equal, fpreading petals. Neftary five 

 glands at the bafe of the germen, alternate with the petals. 

 Stam. Filaments 10, awl-fiiaped, recurved, united at the bafe 

 into a fmall cup, five alternate ones longeft, all fhorter than 

 the petals ; anthers oblong, verfatile, five of them occa- 

 fionally abortive. Pifl. Germen fuperior, with five furrows, 

 beaked ; ftyle central, awl-diapcd, longer than the ftamens, 

 permanent ; ftigmas five, oblong, reflexed. Peric. Capfules 

 five, aggregate, membranous, globofe, lateral, feparating at 



their nifide, each attached upwards to a long, linear, flat, 

 pointed, rigid, fmooth awn, at length elaftically recurved, 

 adhering by its point to the fummit of the ilyle. Seeds foli- 

 tary, lateral, roundifii, their furface fmooth or dotted. 



Eff. Ch. Calyx of five leaves. Petals five. Neftariferous 

 glands five. Fruit beaked, of five aggregate capfules, each 

 tipped with a long, recurved, naked avvn. 



Obf. This genus, as above defined, contains only the 

 Gerania columbina of Linnjeus^ or what are commonly called 

 European Geraniums, or Crane's-bills, bearing but one or 

 two flowers on a ftalk. (See Eroditjm.) Thus it is adopted 

 by Willdenow, who has 39 fpecies, 13 of which are natives 

 of Britain. They are tolerably naturally diilributed into 

 three feftions. 



* Flowcr-ftalks fingle-fiowered ; 4 fpecies. 

 G.fanguineum, Engl. Bot. t. 272, a handfome inhabitant of 

 rocky woods and abrupt gravelly ground, is an example of 

 this feftion, though the late Mr. Davall once found in Swit- 

 zerland an occafionally two-flowered variety. See Fl. Brit. 

 739. A variety found on the Lancafhire coaft, of humble 

 deprefied growth, with white red-veined petals, is frequent 

 in gardens. 



G. filiricum, Jacq. Hort. Vind. v. i.t. 19, an inconfpf. 

 cuous fpecies, is, we believe, conftantly fingle-flowered. 



** Flower-ftalks two-flowered. Root perennial, 24 fpe- 

 cies. Moft of the Crane's-bills ufually cultivated for orna- 

 meat are of this divifion, as 



G. anemonifolium of L'Hcritier. Curt. Mag. t. 206. This 

 ftiowy fpecies, difcovered by Mr. Maffon in Madeira, was, as, 

 Mr. Curtis records, long known in our gardens by the name 

 hivigatvm, admirably exprcflive of its fmoothnefs, and the 

 French botanift changed it for the worfe. We could, have 



BO 



