392 



CLASS XV. MOtfADELPHIA. 



} Order 1. Triandria. 



[Sisyrinchium. Triandria Monogynia.] 



Order 2. Pentandria. 



[Lobelia. Pentandria Motiogynia.] 



Order 4. Dceandria. 



323. GERANIUM. />. Mitt. Gen. 574. 

 [Greek, Geranos, a crane; the beaked fruit resembling a Crane's bill.] 



Sepals 5, equal. Petals 5, equal. Stamens slightly monadelphous ; 

 the alternate ones longer, with nectariferous glands at base. Carpel* 

 6 ; styles cohering round the elongated axis, finally indurated, smooth 

 internally, separating elastically and recurving from the base to the 

 apex. 



Herbaceous, or rarely suffruticosc : leaves mostly opposite, palmatc-lobed ; pe- 

 duncles axillary, 1 or 2-flowered. Nat. Ord. 12-2. Lindl. Geraniace*. 



1, G. maculatum, Z. Stem erect, somewhat angular, dichotomous 

 above ; leaves 3 to 5-parted, incised-dentate, the radical ones on long 

 petioles, the upper ones opposite, on short petioles, or subsessile ; petals 

 entire, twice as long as the calyx ; filaments scarcely ciliate at base. 

 Beck, Bot. p. 67. 



Spotted Geranium. Vulgo — Crow-foot. Spotted Crane's-bill. 



Root perennial, tuberous. Stem 12 to 18 inches high, rather slender, clothed 

 with retrorse or spreading hairs, simple below, di- or tri-chotomously branched 

 at summit; branches with stipules at base. Leaves 2 to 3 inches long, hirsutely 

 pubescent, palmate-lobed, lobes spreading) cuneate, incised-dentate, and often 

 trifid at apex ; radical leaves on petioles 3 to 6 or 1) inches long, with membranous 

 stipules at base ; stem-leaves opposite, at the base of the branches, on villosep*/r 

 oles 1 fourth of an inch to 2 or 3 inches long, the uppermost leaves often solitary 

 and subsessile. Pediatries subcorymbose, 1 to 3 or 4 inches long, mostly 2-flow- 

 ered, often a long dichotomal one in the lower bifurcations ; pedicels half an inch 

 to an inch and half long, in terminal unequal pairs, with small membranous lance- 

 linear bracts at base. Sepals lance-ovate, conspicuously mucronate, 3 or 5-nerved, 

 pilose. Petals purple, spreading, cuneate-obovate, 5-nerved, villose at base within. 

 Carpels hirsute, indehiscent, each 1-secdcd, the beak of cohering styles about an 

 inch long, finally separating at base, and recurving outward and upward. 



Hob. Woodlands, fence-rows, <5c meadows : common. Fl. May-June. Fr. June-July. 



Oba. The root of this is astringent ; and has been found useful in diarrha- , 

 haemorrhage, &c. 



2. G. carolinianum, Z. Stem diffuse, di- or tri-chotomously branch- 

 ed ; leaves deeply 5-parted, segments 2 or 3-parted, incised-dentate ; 

 petals emarginate, about as long as the calyx ; carpels pilose. Beck> 

 Bot. p. 68. 



Carolinian Geranium. 



Root annual, somewhat fusiform, with a few coarse fibres. Stem 6 to 12 or IS 

 inches long, oblique, or decumbent, often several frofh the root, dichotomously 



