GERANIALS. 429 
of floriculture ; natives of China and other tropical countries of 
the East, so remarkable for their unsymmetrical flowers. The 
nature of the parts which constitute this irregularity has been 
much discussed by botanists. “According to Roper and 
others,” says Dr. Lindley, “two membranous external scales and 
a spur alone belong to the calyx, of which the two other sepals are 
usually deficient on that side of the flower which is opposite the 
spur: on the other hand, the corolla consists of a large upper or 
back-piece, and of two lateral inner wings, each of which consist 
of two petals. Kirsch considers the large back-piece of the flower 
to be composed of two sepals, and together with the spur and 
exterior scales to form a five-leaved calyx, while he finds in the 
innermost parts, a corolla of four petals united in pairs, and he 
assumes the fifth petal to be abortive. 
The Geranracem, Crane’s-bills, Geraniums, and Pelargoniums, 
form perhaps the most popular group of plants of the whole vege- 
table world. They are herbaceous, soft, or tumid stemmed plants; 
the young stems jointed, and separable at the joints like the vines ; 
leaves opposite in the upper part, often alternate; the flowers 
hermaphrodite ; regular or irregular calyx, with five equal seg- 
ments; corolla with five petals, sometimes equal; stamens, ten 
in the Geranium. In the Pelargoniums they are rendered unequal 
by one of the petals being elongated into a hollow spur at the 
base, and closely united to the peduncle; corolla unequal ; and the 
petals sometimes reduced to four or even two by abortion, clawed 
and alternating with the segments of the calyx; stamens seven, 
and more or less united by their filaments. : 
These distinctions between the Geranium and Pelargonium are 
perhaps too refined for popular appreciation, and in common 
parlance both genera are known by the common name. The long 
_ beak-like torus round which the carpils are arranged, and the 
-Membranous stipules at the joints, which are tumid or enlarged, 
are the true marks of the order. The Pelargoniums are chiefly 
natives of the Cape of Good Hope. The Geraniums and Erodiums, 
of Europe, North America, and Northern Asia. 
order to give the reader some idea of this interesting family, 
_ Of which we meet with examples at every instant, whether we 
oS happen to be in town or country, in field or garden, let us 
