The Geranium. 39 



Cape of Good Hope, and comprises the great majority of 

 the entire natural order; they have been universally intro- 

 duced, and as they stand the confined air of our sitting-rooms, 

 they are found in every parlor, a practice, by the way, exceed- 

 ingly unhealthy, and which almost always does some mischief, 

 the constant inhalation of the odor of flowers being pernicious 

 to health. This genus furnishes us with nearly all our beautiful 

 looking and sweet smelling species, among others the variety 

 represented in our plate. With a good selection of them, it is 

 possible to have one in bloom every month of the year. A rich, 

 light soil, as a mixture of loam and peat, is the best for the gar- 

 den, when a good supply of decayed leaves can be procured ; 

 if they can, they are considered by florists much the best. 

 The true Geranium is well known by the extensive use made of 

 one of its species, the Maculatum, in the United States, where it 

 is indigenous. It is found mostly in moist woods, and, in fact, 

 in almost all low grounds. The root, which is thick and fleshy, 

 lies parallel to the surface of the ground, sending up every year 

 a straight round stem, about eighteen inches high, which parts 

 in pairs, of a pale green color. The leaves apparently spring 

 from the root ; they are deeply divided into three, five, or seven 

 lobes, and are also pale green. The whole plant is thickly cov- 

 ered with reflexed hairs, and takes its name from the Latin, 

 Maculo, to spot or stain, from the stalk and leaves being mottled 

 with pale green spots ; the flowers are large, and of a purple 

 color; the fruit consisting of five aggregate, one-seeded capsules, 

 attached by a beak to the permanent style, from the sides of which 

 are separated five thin, flat awns or stiff beards, which coil up, 

 having cast off the seed contained in a cell at the base of each. 

 The root, which should be collected in the autumn, is, when 

 dried in pieces of from one to three inches long and a quarter 

 inch broad, very brittle, and easily reduced to powder. Bigelow 

 says, that it is one of the most powerful astringents we possess, 

 and that from its decided properties, as well as the ease of pro- 

 curing it, it may well supersede in medicine many foreign arti- 

 cles of its class which are consumed among us. Its active pro- 

 perties are readily given to alcohol and water. Bigelow says, he 

 has found it useful in a number of cases where astringents were 

 capable of rendering service. It is particularly suited to the 

 treatment of such discharges as continue from debility after the 



