14 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



flowers we find the five petals of a true Geranium of precisely the 

 same shape and size ; but the five petals of a Pelargonium are not so, for 

 sometimes the two topmost are the largest and stand apart from the 

 rest. The florists are doing their utmost to obliterate the irregu- 

 larity of the petals of the Pelargonium, and in this respect to con- 

 vert Pelargoniums into Geraniums, but the conversion will not be 

 complete until much more wonderful things are accomplised. A 

 Geranium has ten stamens, and a Pelargonium has only seven. 

 These numbers are not constant, but the exceptions are of no con- 

 sequence in a general statement of the case. 



When all is said that can be said about the differences and 

 resemblances of the several families of Geraniacea3, there remains 

 only one constant and unfailing test of a true Pelargonium, and that 

 is the nectariferous tube immediately beneath the flower, and run- 

 ning down one side of the flower-stalk. 



The best short summary of the history of the Pelargonium I have 

 met with is in the Gardener's Chronicle of October 2, 1841. It gave 

 me a clue that I wanted to the first-known Pelargonium as an in- 

 mate of an English garden. It speaks of one known to Gerarde, but 

 there is no mention of it in the Gerarde of 1597. However, at page 

 948 of Johnson's Gerarde of 1633 is a record of a plant called 

 Geranium indicum, " as of late brought into this kingdom by the 

 industry of Mr. John Tradescant ; " and the author adds, " I did 

 see it in flower about the end of July, 1632, being the first time 

 that it hath flowered with the owner thereof." The plant figured 

 by Sweet as Pelargonium filipendulifolium (1,85) is a variety of 

 Pelargonium triste, which is identical with the Indian Geranium of 

 Johnson's Gerarde. Thus we determine that the first flowering of a 

 Pelargonium in this country occurred nearly 250 years ago. 



Here it may be proper to remark that there are a few true Pelar- 

 goniums that are not natives of the Cape of Good Hope. P. 

 canariensis is a native of the Canaries ; P. australe comes from the 

 Australian continent ; P. cotyledonis is found wild in St. Helena ; 

 P. Endlicherianum is Asiatic and almost European. There are two 

 or three species in Abyssinia. But P. triste is a Cape plant beyond 

 a doubt, and it is most agreeable to know that our first Pelargo- 

 nium was brought into the country by John Tradescant, of whom 



