196 
The BRITISH HERBAL. 
and fome of the fpecics are to be put into one clafs, and others into another. This, nature abhors 
indeed. 
Unhappily for this author's fyftem, the craneJhilU are charafterifed more thoroughly by their 
lingular fruit than any other genus of plants vvhatever : they are therefore incapable of being thus 
fcparated ; nor, though their difference in this flight refpect^ feemed to render it ncccfTary, has the 
author ventured to do it: he leaves it a blemifli in his fyflem. 
Indeed, the determination of reafon is plainly this, "That fyftem ivhich feparaies like genera, mid 
places in diftina cinjfes the plants evidently of the fame genus, is falfe. This cenfure falls diredlly upon 
the method of this celebrated author ; and thefe two claffes, the manadelphm and diadelphia, are proved 
by this inftance, as others by thofe before-named, to have no real foundation in nature. 
DIVISION I. BRITISH SPECIES. 
r. Herb Robert. 
Geraniun? pedunculis biflcris calycihus hirfutis. 
The root is fmall, long, divided, and hung 
with many fibres. 
The leaves that rife immediately from it have 
long, weak, hairy footftalks of a red colour. 
The leaves themfelves are large, and beauti- 
fully formed: they are firfl divided into three or 
five parts, and thefe are afterwards deeply in. 
dented. They are of a tender fubflance, of a pale 
green, and lightly fprinkled over with white 
hairs. 
The italks are numerous, round, redifh, and 
jointed : they grow in the centre of this tuft of 
leaves, and are a foot or more in lengtli, but not 
perfeaiy upright : the leaves from thefe- are di- 
vided in the fame manner with thofe from the 
root, and are of the fame pale green. 
The flowers are moderately large, and of a 
bright red : they grow on flender pedicle-,, each 
fpliting toward the end, and fupporting two of 
them. 
The fruit, or beak, is long, flender, and co- 
vered at the bafc where the feeds lie by the cup, 
which is hairy. 
The whole plant has a very Angular, but not 
difagreeable fmell. 
Toward the end of fummer it frequently be- 
comes throughout of a bright red colour, leaves 
and flalks, and even the beaks. 
It is common under hedges, and flowers in 
June. 
C. Bauhine calls it Geranium Robertianum ; and 
almoft all the fucceeding writers copy the fame 
name. 
This plant is an aftringent of a very powerful 
kind; but is not enough known to tli^ofe who 
rnight make its virtues a benefit to, niankind. 
The farmers give it their cattle when they make 
bloody urine, or have bloody flools ; and this 
with certain fuccefs: it iliould be brought into 
ufe in the fliops on the fame occafions. 
2. Shining knotty Cranefbill. 
Geranium lucidum nodofum foliis dijfe5lis. 
The root is Jong, flender, divided, and of a 
i;ed colour. 
The firft: leaves are numerous, and they are 
fupported on flender footflalks : they are divided 
deeply into five parts, and thofe again cut in at 
the edges: they very much refemble the leaves of 
^he common hgr.o Rokerl ; but they zi& not hairy. 
as in thatfpccies, but fmooth and fliining, as are 
alfo their flalks. 
The main flalks rife among them, and are 
more than a foot in length, but not upright : 
they are red, of a fliining furface, and have fre- 
quent knots, which are large, and more glofly 
than the refl:. 
The leaves on it refemble thofe from the root. 
The flowers are fmall, and of a faint red ; and 
the feed-veflTel, or beak, is long and flender. 
It is frequent about ou;- fea-coafts, and in many 
inland places. I have obferved it among buflies 
on the right-hand of the road to Chichefler. It 
flowers in June. 
Ray calls it Geranium lucidum fa^^atlk foliis 
geranii Robcrtiani. 
It has the fmeri of the former, and probably 
its virtues. 
3- Dove's-foot Cranefbill. 
Geranium CQlumhinum vulgare. 
The root is long, thick, divided into feveral 
parts, and furnifhed with fibres. 
The leaves rife in a large tuft : they have long, 
weak footflalks, of a pale whitifh green : the 
leaves are roundifh and fmall ; they are divided 
into eight or ten deeper fegments at the edge, 
and thefe are again notched ; but they are Icfs 
cut in than thofe of many otiier of the dovefootsi 
they are of a pale green, and have fomething of 
the appearance of the mallow leaf in miniature. 
The flalks are round, weak, and a foot or 
more in height : they are numerous, branched, 
and of a pale green. 
The leaves are placed irregularly on thefe-, and 
they refemble in all refpedls thofe from the root, 
but that they arc deeper cut at the edges. 
The flowers grow in conflderable numbers aE 
the tops of the flalks and branches -, and they are 
of a beautiful purple, and moderately large. 
The feed-veflel is fmail and flender j it fl:ands 
enclofed in the cup at the bafe, and that is little 
and fmooth. 
It is common by way-fldes, and flowers in June," 
C. Bauhine calls it Geranium folio fiiah^e rolundo. 
Others, Geranium cQlumbinum^ and Columhinum 
vulgare. 
Though common enough, it is not fo frequent 
as many of the others j and many a young ftudenC 
has called the next fpecies by its name. 
The place where it is to be found neareft Lon- 
don is by the fide of the road from Gray's-Inn 
lane lialf a mile from the ftreet. 
« 4. Great 
