14 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 1, 1880. 
he found a Primrose which had both pedicillate and scapigerous 
flowers ; but that was, I presume, only one instance of the vari¬ 
ations to which the Primrose is subject, and which will be referred 
to when I treat of the Polyanthus ; whereas the Oxlip is found 
over the greater part of temperate climates true and fixed to its 
character, not a specimen here and there, but in tolerable abun¬ 
dance. By way of better identifying the true Oxlip I propose to 
name it Primula pratensis, and to allow elatior to remain as the 
distinguishing name of the Bardfield Oxlip.— Philanthos. 
(To be continued.) 
LECTURE ON THE PELARGONIUM. 
Br Shirley Hibberd. 
The following is the text of the lecture delivered by Mr. Shirley 
Hibberd in the Council Chamber of the Royal Horticultural Society 
on the occasion of the Pelargonium Society’s annual Exhibition, 
June 29th. 
The Pelargonium affords a subject large enough to occupy as many 
houvs, days, or even weeks, as the mere moments I shall devote to it 
on the present occasion. The plants on the table represent in part 
the beautiful collection of species and hybrids in possession of the 
Royal Horticultural Society, the management of which at Chiswick 
is all that can be desired. It is fortunate I am not bound to mention 
Geraniums, for, if they are of less importance than Pelargoniums they 
take us further back in time, and to do justice to them we should 
have to rummage amongst the old books and fish up some very curious 
memoranda. But the mention of the Geranium renders it necessary 
to begin with definitions. A Pelargonium is not a Geranium, although 
often so called. The true Geraniums are for the most part herba¬ 
ceous plants inhabiting the northern hemisphere, and the Pelar¬ 
goniums are for the most part shrubby or sub-shrubby plants of the 
southern hemisphere. Let us for a moment wander amongst the 
pleasant slopes of Barley Dale in Derbyshire, or by the banks of the 
Clyde or the Calder. We shall in either case be rewarded by seeing 
vast sheets of the lovely Meadow Crane’s-bill, Geranium pratense, 
a true Geranium, and one of the sweetest flowers in the world. In 
the rocky recesses of Ashwood Dale, or on the banks of the “ bonny 
Doon,” we may chance to see in high summer, a profusion of the 
Herb Robert, Geranium Robertianum, with pink flowers and purple 
leaves, a piece of true vegetable jewellery. And, once more, I invite 
you to an imaginary journey, and we will ride by rail from Furness 
to Whitehaven in order to behold on the railway bank, more especially 
near St. Bees, a wondrous display of the crimson Crane’s-bill, Gera¬ 
nium sanguineum, which from July to September forms solid sheets, 
often of a furlong in length, of the most resplendent colour. 
Now let us fly to the other side of the globe and alight in the 
vicinity of the Cape of Good Hope, say on the vast desert of Karroo, 
where there is much sand, much sunshine, and little rain. Here, in 
the midst of desolation, the world is rich with flowers, for the heathy 
scrub that occurs in patches, glowing with many bright hues, consists 
in part of wild Pelargoniums, which often take the form of miniature 
deciduous trees, although in the valleys nearer the coast, where more 
rain falls, they are evergreen bushes. 
Yery different in their characters are these two tribes of plants, 
and they are not less different in their constitution and aspects. We 
may regard the Geraniums as herbs of Europe, and the Pelargoniums 
as miniature trees of Africa. When we examine the flowers we find 
the five petals of a true Geranium of precisely the same shape and 
size ; but the five petals of a Pelargonium are not so, for sometimes 
the two topmost are the largest and stand apart from the rest. The 
florists are doing their utmost to obliterate the irregularity of the 
petals of the Pelargonium, and in this respect to convert Pelargoniums 
into Geraniums, but the conversion will not be complete until much 
more wonderful things are accomplished. A Geranium has ten 
stamens, and a Pelargonium has only seven. These numbers are 
not constant, but the exceptions are of no consequence in a general 
statement of the case. 
When all is said that can be said about the differences and resem¬ 
blances of the several families of Geraniacese, there remains only one 
constant and unfailing test of a true Pelargonium, and that is the 
nectariferous tube immediately beneath the flower, and running down 
one side of the flower-stalk. 
The best short summary of the history of the Pelargonium I have 
met with is in the Gardeners' Chronicle of October 2, 1841. It gave 
me a clue that I wanted to the first-known Pelargonium as an inmate 
of an English garden. It speaks of one known to Gerarde, but there 
is no mention of it in the Gerarde of 1597. However, at page 948 of 
Johnson’s Gerarde of 1633 is a record of a plant called Geranium 
indicum, “ as of late brought into this kingdom by the industry of 
Mr. John Tradescant; ” and the author adds, “ I did see it in flower 
about the end of July, 1632, being the first time that it hath flowered 
with the owner thereof.” The plant figured by Sweet as Pelargonium 
filipendulifolium (I., 85) is a variety of Pelargonium triste, which is 
identical with the Indian Geranium of Johnson’s Gerarde. Thus we 
determine that the first flowering of a Pelargonium in this country 
occurred nearly 250 years ago. 
Here it may be proper to remark that there are a few true Pelar¬ 
goniums that are not natives of the Cape of Good Hope. P. canariensis 
is a native of the Canaries ; P. australe comes from the Australian 
continent; P. cotyledonis is found wild in St. Helena ; P. Endlicheri- 
anum is Asiatic and almost Europ:an. There are two or three 
species in Abyssinia. But P. triste is a Cape plant beyond a doubt, 
and it is most agreeable to know that our first Pelargonium was 
brought into the country by John Tradescant, of whom Parkinson 
speaks as that worthy, curious, and diligent searcher and preserver 
of all Nature’s rarities and varieties. It was in all probability 
amongst the treasures acquired in his voyage to Barbary, in the fleet 
sent out against the Algerines in 1620. When, in 1629, he became 
gardener to Henrietta Maria, Queen of Charles I., this plant was in 
his famous collection at Lambeth, and was thence sent forth as the 
pioneer of the Pelargoniums and the Pelargonium Society. As the 
Cape was discovered in 1497, the plant had 123 years to complete 
the journey to the Mediterranean, and no doubt had the help of 
Portuguese traders in so doing. 
It is singular that John Tradescant, who was an Englishman, born 
in Worcestershire, and probably of French extraction, was always 
regarded as a Dutchman. It is singular in this connection, because 
subsequent to his introduction of the first Cape Pelargonium, the 
Dutch were certainly the introducers of a dozen or more species that 
soon after came into Europe. In Dr. James Sherard’s wonderful 
garden at Eltham there were in 1732 half a dozen species. In the 
second edition of Miller, published 1733, there are twenty species of 
African “ Geraniums,” and these are all Cape Pelargoniums. This 
brings us to the publication by Linnseus of the “ Genera Plantarum ” 
in 1737, and the “ Species Plantarum” in 1753, when the twenty-five 
species of Pelargoniums known to him were described as Geraniums 
for the last time in any work of high authority. In 1787 L’Heritier 
distinguished them by the signs I have already mentioned. _ In the 
“ Hortus Kewensis,” published in 1812, as many as 102 species and 
hybrids are described as then in cultivation at Kew, and the list 
includes triste, grossularoides, zonale, inquinans, lateripes, peltatum, 
grandiflorum, quercifolium, and fulgidum. 
The splendid garden varieties of Pelargoniums that afford us so 
much delight are in a certain sense the creations of human skill. 
Nature never needed snch things and did not trouble to produce them. 
They are the products of careful systematic hybridising and crossing, 
and they represent the talent and perseverance of the florists during 
a period of sixty-five years—a period so brief considering what has 
been accomplished that it shrinks to a moment when we compare the 
original wildings with the splendid flowers of this day. In the year 
1815, or thereabouts, the amateurs began to cross the species, and one 
of the leaders in this delightful work was Sir Richard Colt Hoare, 
who obtained a considerable number of beautiful hybrids. The work 
was taken up with more serious views by Mr. Robert Sweet, the 
author of a number of valuable illustrated works, comprising one in 
five volumes devoted to the Geraniacese. 
The large-flowering or florists’ Pelargoniums are reputed to be the 
offspring of P. speciosum. It must be evident to every cultivator 
of these flowers that the blood of a score or so of species is mingled 
in them. P. speciosum was introduced in 1794, but it has no place 
under this name in Sweet or the “ Hortus Kewensis.” It is variously 
described as producing purple and white flowers, and can scarcely be 
said to have a history. If the question be asked, What is Pelar¬ 
gonium speciosum? I must refer to Sweet’s description of P. invo- 
lucratum, No. 33. He there refers to speciosum of Andrews as iden¬ 
tical with his own superbum, and he puts the speciosum of Wildenow 
out of court altogether. It is likely, I think, that P. spectabile (136), 
a hybrid raised from P. cucullatum and P. ignescens, and P. involu- 
cratum (33), raised from P. cucullatum and P. superbum, were the 
founders of the florists’ race. Certain it is that these typical kinds 
were endowed with the capability of varying indefinitely, and with a 
plastic constitution rendering them possible sources of innumerable 
floral surprises. It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that amongst 
the true hybrids there are at least fifty that might be the parents of 
our exhibition race. But to clear up the point is impossible, for in 
very few instances did the early raisers keep any record that could 
be referred to for settling questions of pedigree. 
The first variety figured as a proper florists’ flower was called 
Geranium grandissima, raised by Mr. Widnall of Grantchester. The 
portrait of this variety appeared in the “ Floricultural Cabinet ” of 
September 1st, 1834. It was a pretty flower, with rich dark top petals 
and warm blush-tinted under petals ; but the small size and poor 
form would exclude it from any collection of Pelargoniums in the 
present day. What a marvellous advance on this do we behold in 
the latest flowers of Mr. Hoyle or Mr. Foster ! To Mr. Hoyle, no 
doubt, we must assign the gold medal as the producer by systematic 
crossing of the finest varieties of the present day. 
(To be continued.) 
HERBACEOUS GRAFTING. 
Such trees as Peaches and Nectarines, as all know who have 
had much experience in their cultivation and management, are 
peculiarly liable to have their symmetry destroyed by the buds fail¬ 
ing to break in certain desired positions, by slugs destroying the 
growth in its early stage, or blister affecting the foliage and 
killing the shoots. When trees are thus deprived of growth in 
certain important parts the mode of filling the vacancies by what 
