158 THE LTME FAMILY. 



to the Altai. Much planted in Britain, and probably truly wild in 

 southern and western England, and perhaps in Ireland. Fl. summer. 

 It varies much in the size of the leaves, in the degree of down on their 

 under surface and on the fruits, in the greater or less prominence of the 

 5 filiform ribs of the fruit, etc. The truly indigenous form in northern 

 Europe is always a smalHeaved one. The large-leaved variety which 

 we commonly plant (T. grandifolia, Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2720) is of 

 south European origin, with the leaves still further enlarged by cul- 

 tivation. Some North American species are also frequently planted. 



XX. THE GERANIUM FAMILY. GERANIACEiB. 



Annual or perennial herbs, or, in exotic species, low shrubs, 

 with opposite or rarely alternate leaves, usually more or less 

 toothed, divided, or compound, and furnished with stipules. 

 Flowers regular in the principal British genera, irregular in Bal- 

 sam and some exotic ones. Sepals (in the regular flowers) 5, over- 

 lapping in the bud. Petals 5, twisted in the bud. Stamens 5 to 

 10, often united at the base. Ovary 5-lobed and 5-celled, with 

 one or several seeds in each, all attached to the central axis. 

 Styles 5. Eruit 5-lobed, the carpels opening or partially falling 

 off when ripe, leaving a central, persistent axis. In the genera 

 w T ith irregular flowers these characters are much modified (see 

 Balsam). 



The Geranium family resembles the Pink and Mallow families in 

 the twisted arrangement of their petals, but differs from the former in 

 foliage as well as in fruit, and from the latter in the definite stamens. 

 The species are distributed nearly all over the globe, but most nume- 

 rous in the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere, and more 

 especially in south-western Africa. The limits of the Order are as yet 

 very unsettled, some botanists including Flaxes, and many other 

 exotic genera, whilst others exclude \Balsam, Oxalis, and Tropceolum, 

 confining it to the old Linnaean genus Geranium. 



Flowers regular. 



Leaves opposite, cut or toothed. Carpels 1-seeded, round 

 base of a long-beaked receptacle or axis. 



Ten stamens 1. Geranium. 



Five stamens 2. Erobiuh. 



