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GERANIALS. 427 
GERANIALS. 
This group, of which the Crane’s-bills or Geraniacew are the type, 
are hypogynous exogens, whose most positive character is having 
a definite number of stamens, an imbricate or overlapping calyx, 
and a twisted corolla and symmetrical flowers. They are emollient 
and purgative in Linum; acid, nutricious, and aromatic in 
Ozalids ; and aromatic and astringent in Geranids. 
x 
needy op’ 
hrodite pate. ervey flowers, generally five distinct ig toed ‘orl CLXXXIII. Linacee. 
ovary 
- with four or five petals ; stamens pe and alternate with 
n peergy fruit i 
ees or shrubs, with shouy’ ata fon flowers, alternate 
aso feaherseined, entire; sometimes plaited, — nent, cup-like, 
involucre ; onodelphous stamens, and atandaet album: 
‘Sea plants, under-shrubs, or trees ; leaves ais or compound 
etl vaoueee carpels longer than the ‘torus; seeds with anaadent 
CLXXXIV. Chienacez. 
CLXXXV. Oxalidacee. 
leaves, without stipules; ree ers imegular an and uns 
involucre ; distinct stamens, and no album 
S Sebacne plants or pat with ad stems, separable at the ast 
CLXXXVII. Geraniacee. 
Herb: y annuals, with simple opecette - es = CLXXXVI. Balsamina- 
ymmetri 
torus, 
The Linace®, or Flaxes, are a small order of useful annual 
woody plants, valuable alike for their fibre, whose tenacity renders 
it invaluable, and its seeds which yield by expression the linseed oil * 
of commerce. Their leaves are alternate, free from all trace of vola- 
tile secretions, and destitute of stipules; the body of the stem 
incapable of disarticulation. The order consists of two genera, 
_ Linum and Radiola ; the. first comprehending many species. The 
Plants of the order are distributed’ throughout the temperate 
regions of the earth, particularly along the shores of the 
editerranean, in Europe and Africa; but it is supposed to be a 
native of the great plateau of upper Asia, whence it was introduced 
into Europe. It is the Linum usitatissimum which furnishes man 
with his first and last clothing. Martianus says that lint was 
a first sown by the Egyptians, and that the priests of Isis made its 
ues known tothem. From the time of Moses it was cultivated 
on a great scale in the plains of Egypt; under the Roman 
i. emperors the Egyptians were renowned for their linen fabrics. It 
Le mon Spread over France, Germany, and other European countries, 
: 5 ut in our times it has been most fully developed in Holland, 
