CICONIUM BENTINCKIANUM. BENTINCK CICONIUM. 
Class XVI. MONODELPHIA.— Order IV. DECANDRIA. 
Natural Order, GERNIACE/E. THE GERANIUM TRIBE. 
The name, Geranium, is derived from the Greek language, and signifies a crane ; the fruit having the form 
of a crane’s bill and head. The English name is Crane’s-bill ; but the plant is more generally known by 
its botanical appellation. The Geranium is divided into three genera : Erodium is the first, Pelargonium 
the second, and the third retains the old name of Geranium, which, indeed, is still familiarly used for them 
all, as well as the English name Crane’s bill. Erodium is from the Greek, and signifies a heron, whose bill 
is similiar to that of the crane ; Pelargonium is from the same language, and signifies a stork, whose bill is 
equally long. French, le geranion ; la geraine ; bee de grue ; bee de cicogne. Italian,— geranio, becco di gru. 
Stem shrubby, succulent, branching ; branches thickly clothed with spreading unequal white hairs, 
which are slightly bent downwards. Leaves roundly kidney-shaped, shortly 5 or 7-lobed, the lobes bluntly 
rounded, crenulate, the notches very shallow, thickly clothed on both sides with short soft white hairs, 
which gives a glossy and velvetty appearance when viewed towards the light, very soft to the touch, but the 
leaves altogether thicker, and the hairs on them much longer than in C. fulgens, a nearly related plant. 
Petioles a little flattened on the upper side and rounded on the lower, very thickly clothed with spreading 
white hairs, the smaller ones inclining downwards, the longer ones spreading horizontally. Stipules broadly 
cordate, acute, hairy, and fringed. Peduncles very long, cylindrical, clothed with very unequal spreading 
hairs. Umbels many-flowered. Involucre of numerous very unequal deciduous bractes, some of them 
broadly cordate, others lanceolate, acute. Pedicles about the length of the bractes. Calyx 5 -cleft, seg- 
ments short, lanceolate, acute, spreading. Nectariferous tube variable in length, of a purplish brown colour, 
3 to 5 times longer than the calyx, flattened and furrowed on both sides, and gibbous at the base, thickly 
clothed with spreading short hairs, that are all tipped with a little globular gland. Petals 5, roundly obo- 
vate, the two upper ones rather smallest, two nerved at the back, the nerves branching : lower ones strongly 
2-nerved at the base, which branch in small veins all over the petals. Filaments 10, erect, connected at the 
base, 7 bearing anthers, two upper ones very short : pollen granular, orange-coloured. Style short, naked, 
pale-coloured. Stigmas 5, pale red, fimbriate, reflexed. 
There is no end to the varieties of Geranium, and as new ®nes continually occur, there most probably 
never will be an end to them. There are many plants bearing this title which have no kind of resemblance 
to these in their general appearance, and which the most passionate lover or attentive observer of these 
beautiful plants, unskilled in the mysteries of botanical science, would never discover to belong to them. 
The Erodiums, with very few exceptions, may be increased — the annual kinds from seed, the perennial 
by parting the roots in autumn, — arid will thrive in the open air. The principal exceptions are the Crassi- 
folium, or Upright Crane’s-bill, the Incarnatum, or Flesh-coloured, the Glaucophyllum, or Glaucous-leaved, 
and Chamcedry aides, or Dwarf Geranium, which must be treated as the Pelargoniums. 
The Geranium, specifically so called, may be treated in the same manner as the Erodiums, and will 
thrive in almost any soil or situation. The Pelargoniums, which constitute the principal division of this 
great genus, require more care. They may be easily raised from seed ; but a person desiring large and early 
flowers will procure a plant which has been raised in a hot-bed. 
The Shrubby African Geraniums are commonly increased by cuttings, which, planted in June or July, 
and placed in the shade, will take root in five or six weeks. In September, or in October as the 
weather is more or less mild, they must be housed : even when grown, the Pelargoniums must be housed in 
winter ; at which time they should be gently watered twice a week, if the weather is not frosty. In May 
they may be gradually accustomed to the open air, and about the end of that month be placed abroad 
entirely in the day ; but should still for the next two or three weeks be under cover at night, though fresh 
air must be admitted. After that time they must be defended from strong winds, and be so placed as to 
enjoy the sun till eleven o’clock in the morning. 
As the shrubby kinds grow rather fast, they will sometimes fill the pot with their roots, and push them 
through the opening at the bottom ; they must therefore be moved every two or three weeks in the summer, 
and the fresh roots which are seen pushing through must be eut off. They should also be newly potted 
twice in the course of the summer; once about a month after they are placed abroad, and again towards 
the end of August. When this is done, all the roots on the outside of the ball of earth should be carefully 
pared off, and as much of the old earth removed as can be done without injuring the plants. If they then 
