CHAPTEE Y. 



Gerakiums and Pelargokiums. 



" a brilliant carpet of xinnumbered dyes, 

 With sweet variety enchants the eyes." 



These well-known flowers liaye adorned the gardens, and been florists' 

 favorites for many years. Their pleasing foliage, and brilliant bloom, 

 well merit the estimation in which they are held. Leigh Hunt, the 

 genial Essayist, says : — " Everything about the geranium is handsome, 

 not excepting its name, which cannot be said of all flowers, though we 

 get to love ugly words when associated with pleasing ideas. The word 

 Geranium is soft and elegant ; the meaning is poor, for it comes from a 

 Greek word signifying a Crane, the fruit, or seed pod, resembling the 

 form of a crane's bill. But what a reason for naming the flower ! as if 

 the fruit were anything in compai'ison^ or any one cared about it. It 

 would be far better to invent joyous and beautiful names for these 

 images of joy and beauty." 



Linnaeus named the Geranium from Geranos, a crane, for the reason 

 that Mr. Hunt gives. The plant is often confounded with the Pelar- 

 gonium, which difi'ers from it in size, shape and coloring of its flowers, 

 and it is strictly exotic. It was named from Pelargos, a stork, on account 

 of the resemblance of its capsules to the bill and head of that bird. 

 They are placed in the same class of the Linnasan system as the 

 Geranium (Monadelphia), but in the fourth order {Heptaiidria), while 

 the other is in the sixth order {Decandria). 



There has been a good deal of confusion with regard to the names of 

 the two plants, and their numerous varieties, but the derivation of their 

 titles settles the vexed question. 



