PELARGONIUM Comptoni». 
The Marchioness of Northampton's Stork' s-biU. 
P. Comptonice, umbellis 3-4 florisve, foliis planis basi 
cuneatis v. cordatis oblatis trilobis inaequaliter ob- 
tuse denticulatis : lobis divaricatis obtusis, stipulis 
cordatis obtusiusculis, calycibus patentibus, tubo 
nectarifero longitudine calycis. 
Stem shrubby, much branched: branches slender, 
flexuose, thickly clothed with soft white unequal hairs, 
as are the petioles, peduncles, and calyx. Leaves- 
flat, wider than long, wedge-shaped at the base or 
sometimes cordate, deeply 3-lobed, unequally toothed 
with short bluntish teeth, and covered on both sides 
with short close-pressed canescent hairs, which give 
them a kind of hoary appearance ; lobes blunt and 
spreading : upper leaves narro er and more acute. 
Petioles unequal in length, a little widened at the base, 
flattened and furrowed on the upper side and convex 
on the lower. Stipules cordate, bluntish, entire and 
ciliate. Peduncles longer than the leaves, 3 or 4 
flowered. Involucre of about 4 cordate, acute, con- 
cave bractes, which are keeled and ciliate. Pedicles 
long and slender, unequal in length. Cal^/x 5-cleft, 
segments narrowly lanceolate, taper-pointed, slightly 
spreading. Nectariferous tube about the length of the 
calyx, flattened and furrowed on each side, gibbous at 
the base, and thickly clothed with short white hairs. 
Petals 5, the two uppermost roundly obovate, oblique 
at the base, of a fine rosy purple, with a large dark 
velvet spot in the centre and a few hues slightly 
branching from it : lower petals obovate, obtuse, of a 
lighter colour. Filaments 10, united at the base, 7 
bearina- anthers. Pollen orange-coloured. German 
g2 
