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PELARGONIUM. 
NAT. CLASS,—DICOTYLEDONES ; ORDER, — GER ANIACEÆ. ART. CLASS,_ 
MONADELPHIA ; ORDER, — HEPTANDRIA. 
The genus Pélargonium is very extensive, and the 
speeies are almost exclusively found about the Cape of 
Good Hope. They hâve heen so much cultivated of 
late years that many varieties and hybrids hâve been 
the resuit, and it is very difficult to say what are 
and what are not true speeies. Their conimon charac- 
ter is to possess half-succulent stems, which branch 
a good deal, and bear leaves with pétioles, having 
stipules at their base. The flowers are in umbels, 
with the calyx so deeply divided into five segments 
as almost to appear quinquesepalous. There are ^ve 
unequal petals in the corolla, the uppermost of which 
are generally larger than the rest. The stamens 
are also unequal, united into a monadelphous tube, 
and though in reality ten in number, yet, three of 
them being stérile, the genus is referred to Heptan- 
n 3 
