130 GEBANIACEM. [Geeanium. 



i^/ower^ regular. Sepals 2Lnd petals imbricate, the latter alternating 

 with 5 glands. Stamens 10, usually all fertile, free or connate at the 

 hase. Ovary 5-lobed, 5 -celled, beaked; styles 5, stigmatose longi- 

 tudinally ; ovules superposed. Capsule 5-lobed, 5-celied, cells 1- 

 seeded. CW^e^* usually dehiscent ventrally, often separating septi- 

 fragally from the axis, their beaks elastically coiling upwards. Seeds 

 with scanty albumen or 0.— Upwards of 160 species have been pub- 

 lished, and nearly all are found in the Northern Hemisphere. 



The allied genus, Pelargonium, largely represented in S. Africa, contains 

 the numerous so-called 'garden geraniums,' many of which are hybrids. 

 Various kinds of TroycBolum, another genus belonging to this family, are 

 much grown in'' Indian gardens under the popular name of 'nasturtium.', 

 which must not he confounded with the genus Nasturtium, represented 

 hy watercress,' and belonging to the CrucifercB. 



G. ocellatum. Jacquem. Voy. Bot. 33, t. 38 ; F. B. I, i. 433 ; Watt E. B. 

 G. bicolor and G. choorense Uoyle III. 149, 150. 



A much-branched prostrate annual, hoary-pubescent or hairy and 

 glandular. Leaves i-2 in. in diam., orbicular, 5-7-lobed ; lobes cuneate, 

 3-5-fid. Peduncles sometimes clustered, or solitary and 1-flowered. 

 Flowers f in. across, rose-colotired with a dark purple eye. Sepals rigid 

 after flowering. Petaisbroadlyobcordate, larger than the sepals. Carpels 

 corrugated. Seeds smooth, 



Dehra Dun and Siwalik range. Distkib. : Punjab hills, and on the 

 W. Himalaya up to 6,000ft., from Kashmir to E. Nepal, also on Parasnath 

 in Bengal. The plant possesses medicinal properties. 



3. OXALIS, Linn.; Fl. Brit. Ind. i, 435. 



Herbs with acid juice, rarely shrubs. Leaves usually 3-foliolate. 

 with or without stipules. Flowers on axillary 1- or more-flowered 

 peduncles, regular. SepaU 5, imbricate. Petals 5, hypogynous, 

 contorted. Glands of disk 0- Stamens 10, free or united at the 

 base, all anther-bearing. Ovary lobed, 5-celled ; styles 5, distinct ; 

 stigma terminal ; ovules 1 or more in each cell. Capsule loculicidal, 

 valves persistent to the axis. Seeds with an outer fleshy coat which 

 bursts elastically, testa cruataceous, albumen fleshy. — Species about 

 220, tropical and temperate. 



O. corniculata, Linn, 8'p. PI. 435; Eoxh.Fl. Ind. ii, 457 ; W. ^ A. 



Prod. 142 ; Royle III. 152 ; F. B. I. % 436 ; Watt E. D. Vern. Amrul 



cAalmori,— Indian Sorrel. 



A perennial appressed-pubescent herb vdth long slender creeping or 

 subterranean stems, rooting at the nodes ; roots often tuberous. Leaves 

 on long petioles, 3-foliolate, leaflets obcordate ; stipules adnate to the 



