THE CRANE’S-BILL FAMILY 
[ORDER XX. GERANIACEjE] 
CALYX of 5 SEPALS, overlapping in bud, 
sometimes united at the base, remaining 
with the fruit (persistent), inserted below 
the seedcase (hypogynous). 
COROLLA of 5 PETALS, twisted in bud, 
usually strongly veined, inserted below the 
seedcase (hypogynous). 
STAMENS, 5 or io, with the filaments often 
united at the base, inserted below the seed- 
case (hypogynous). 
PISTIL of 5 CARPELS, united into a 
5-celled seedcase (ovary), 5 styles more or 
less united into a column crowned with 
5 spreading stigmas ; the 5 styles frequently 
lengthen and remain with the fruit (per- 
sistent) and form a beak. 
FRUIT a capsule, generally beaked, 5-celled, 
with 1, 2 or more seeds in each cell and 
with a central axis to which the 5 cells are 
attached and from which they usually 
separate elastically, so scattering the seeds. 
FLOWERS usually very handsome and 
brightly coloured, regular in the British 
species except in the Balsam (Impatiens) 
when the sepals and petals are very 
irregular in size and shape, usually in 
clusters of 2 or more, rarely solitary. 
STEMS often swollen at the joints (nodes). 
LEAVES opposite, rarely alternate, usually 
more or less deeply lobed or divided, 
usually with stipules. 
DISTINGUISHED BY the 5 sepals, petals, 
and carpels, the 5 or 10 stamens, the 
5-celled, usually beaked, capsule, open- 
ing elastically by 5 valves, and by the 
usually lobed or divided leaves. 
T HE Geranium Family is distinguished from any other by its remarkable fruit, which is usually 
beaked, but which always consists of 5 seedcases (containing 1, 2 or more seeds) clustered 
round a central axis, from which, when ripe, first one and then another whole seedcase separates 
with a jerk, at the same time opening and throwing out the seed. The beak, when present, is 
formed of the persistent styles, which lengthen and harden with the central axis, and then, when 
ripe, each one of them separates with its seedcase and rolls upwards bearing the empty seedcase 
at the base. 
It is a large family, widely spread over the whole globe, thriving in the temperate regions of 
the Northern Hemisphere and very abundant in South Africa, from which country we obtain 
the beautiful Pelargoniums of our greenhouses and our cultivated Geraniums, most of which 
are really Pelargoniums. The Tropseolums, one of which is our garden Nasturtium, are nearly 
allied. Some of the species abound with a volatile oil and acids, and others have edible roots. 
GERANIUM, CRANE’S BILL. (GERANIUM, LINN.)— Flowers stalked, purple, rose, lilac, or 
white, solitary, or 2 together starting from the same point on the main flowering stem with 2 bracts 
at the base. Sepals 5, remaining with the seeds (persistent) ; petals 5; stamens 10, 5 being 
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