IOO GERANlAcE^E 



tained in their foliage, and some have edible tubers. All three 

 tribes furnish beautiful plants to our gardens. Most of the species 

 grown as Geraniums, which are derived mainly from South Africa, 

 belong truly to the allied genus Pelargonium, which differs in 

 having the posterior sepal wider than the rest, and provided with 

 a tubular spur containing nectar, which is adherent to the flower- 

 stalk, so that the flower is monosymmetric. 



Tribe I. GerAniE/E. — The Crane's-bill Tribe. — Flowers poly- 

 symmetric : sepals imbricate : fruit a beaked regma separating into 

 Jive indehiscent cocci : styles persisting as awns. 



i. Geranium. — Stamens 10; awns recurved, smooth. 



2. Er6dium. — Stamens 5 ; staminodes 5 ; awns spiral, bearded. 



Tribe II. OxAiiDE^E. — The Wood-Sorrel Tribe. — Flowers poly- 

 symmetric : sepals imbricate : stamens 1 o : fruit a capsule 



3. 6xalis. — Leaves ternate ; seeds with an elastic testa. 



Tribe III. Balsam/ne^e. — The Balsam Tribe. — Flowers mono- 

 symmetric : sepals petaloid, the posterior spurred : stamens 5 .• fruit 

 a capsule, bursting elastically. 



4. Impatiens. — Leaves simple ; sepals 3 ; petals 3. 



1. GerAnium (Crane's-bill).— Herbs with swollen nodes, rarely 

 shrubs; leaves simple, stipulate, lobed ; flowers on 1 — 2-flowered 

 axillary peduncles; stamens 10, 5 of which are alternately larger, 

 and have glands at their base ; styles persisting as smooth awns 

 which curve upwards from the long beak (carpophore) of the 

 fruit. (Name from the Greek geranos, a crane, from the beaked 

 fruit.) 



* Perennial 



1. G. sanguineum (Bloody Crane's-bill). — An exceedingly 

 handsome plant with hairy stems ; abundant foliage, radical leaves 

 nearly round, with 7 deeply-cut lobes, each of which is 3-cleft, 

 cauline leaves 5- or 3-lobed ; x flowers 1 — \\ in. across, crimson or 

 pink, solitary, on long stalks. — Dry rocks and shores ; not common. 

 — Fl. July — September. 



2.* G. versicolor, with slender, erect, hairy stem, 18 in. high, 

 and 2 -flowered peduncles bearing white, red-veined flowers, occurs 

 as an escape. 



1 Particular care should be taken when comparing specimens with the above descriptions, 

 to examine the radical leaves, for the cauline leaves vary even on the same plant to such 

 a degree as to defy description. 



