
PLANTS GROWING IN LIGHT SOIL. ; 223 
AMERICAN SPIKENARD. 
Aralta racemosa. 
FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 
Ginseng. Greenish white. Roots fragrant. Vermont to Minnesota, July. 
southward to Georgia. 
Flowers : imperfect ; growing in drooping, compound umbels in a long pani- 
cle; similar to those already described of the genus Aralia. Leaves: very 
large ; compound ; with heart-shaped pointed leaflets; downy; toothed. Stem : 
very leafy ; branched. Roofs: branched ; aromatic ; fragrant. 
Few could pass by the long red or purple clusters of berry- 
like fruit which the spikenard bears without turning aside to 
admire them. Just before being quite ripe they are particu- 
larly brilliant and beautiful in colouring. 
WILD GERANIUM. WILD CRANESBILL. (Pilate CXV.) 
Gerdnium maculatum. 
FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 
Geranium. Purplish pink or lavender. Scentiess. Generad. April-July. 
Flowers : growing in pairs, or more numerously on long peduncles. Calyx: 
of five pointed sepals. Corol/a: of five rounded petals. Stamens: ten, five 
of which are longer than the others with glands at their bases. /Pzstz/: one ; 
styles, five. /Arwzt; maturing into as manycapsules. Leaves: palmately three, 
five, or seven divided; each division notched into lobes at the end ; the older 
leaves blotched, or spotted with white. Svem : branching ; hairy. 
When so strong and vigourous a plant as the wild cranesbill 
clothes itself in delicate purple or lavender, we naturally think 
it has a taste for the artistic. The detail of its gown has also 
been most carefully planned, as is shown by its beautiful vena- 
tion. Undoubtedly it is doing its best to keep up with its fa- 
voured relatives of the gardens. Its common name, cranesbill, 
and Greek name, geranium, are from the resemblance of the 
partly-matured seed vessels to the long beak of a crane. When 
ripe they burst open elastically and scatter the seeds. The 
plant spreads itself bountifully over the fields and roadsides as 
well as rests quietly in the open woods. 
