112 



Descriptive Flora 



and cut into smaller lobes or blunt teeth. Petals 5, small, notched 

 at apex. Stamens 10, 5 longer alternating with 5 shorter. Fruit 

 usually in 2's, on long stems coming out of the axils of the leaves, 

 5-lobed at base and tapering into a beak about y% inch long. 

 March and April. Widespread. Genus named from Gr. gercmos, 

 crane, from the fruit. 



Erodium texanum A. Gray. Stork's Bill. Pine Needle. 



Wild Geranium. 



Plants with several forking stems coming from a common 

 taproot and conspicuous, 5-petaled, rose-purple flowers about 1 

 inch across. Leaves simple, opposite, or alternate. Blades ovate 

 in outline, long stalked, usually cut into 3 to 5 incised or toothed 

 lobes. Petals 5, falling early. Stamens 5. Fruit 5-lobed at base 

 and tapering into a beak 2 to 3 inches long which gives it its 

 popular name. March and April. Grows in patches, usually on 

 well drained rocky hillsides. Leaves subject to a warty growth 

 that turns red, and is sometimes mistaken for flowers. Genus 

 receives its name from the Greek E radios, heron, from the fruit. 



Erodium cicutarium (L.) L'Her. Pin Clover. Alfileria. 



Filaree. 



The long, sharp-pointed fruits of this hairy plant give it 

 the name pin-plant. Leaves simple, alternate, finely dissected 

 and fernlike. Flowers small, delicate purple or lavender, about 

 three-eighths inch across, in clusters at the end of long, slender 

 axillary stems. Petals 5. Fruit similar to Wild Geranium but 

 1 to IV2" inches long. Valuable as a forage plant for cattle. 



LINACEAE. Flax Family. 

 Linum sulcatum Riddell. 



(Cathartolinum sulcatum [Riddell.] Small.) Yellow Flax. 



Leafy plants, 8 to 16 inches tall, with several slender-stem- 

 med branches coming from the main root, and many bright 

 orange-yellow, fragile flowers about 1" across, with reddish veins 



