Geranium. 
147 
rounded by the most curious or brilliant exotics; although, 
when it happens, as it often does, that the plant is not a scented 
one, the experimentalist fully comprehends why it is deemed 
symbolic of deceit. 
The Thick-stemmed Geranium is a very singular plant. This 
species, Mr. Andrews tells us, was found near five feet high in 
the Bay of Angra Peguena, on the south-western coast of 
Africa, in the chasm of a white marble rock, apparently without 
any earth ; for, on pulling up the plant, the roots, several yards 
in length, were naked and hard as wire, and appeared to have 
received nourishment solely from the moisture lodged there 
during the rainy season, assisted by a little sand drifted by the 
wind into the cavities. The heat was so intense on these rocks 
as to blister the soles of the feet; and yet all the geraniums 
there were in perfection, it being just then their flowering 
season. 
All the most admired plants of the geranium family are 
natives of the Cape of Good Hope. The Scarlet Geranium, 
which is not only the most common, but also the most popular, 
of all this genus, is, strange to say, recorded in the language 
of flowers as the emblem of stupidity. It is one of the most 
brilliant of our floral pets, and deservedly, as Cowper remarks, 
“ Geranium boasts 
Her crimson honours.” 
A favourite game is played at Rome, in which the leaf 
of the geranium is employed. This game is styled “Far il 
Verde,” and seems to consist principally in obtaining forfeits 
from one another. Its rules are too tedious and far-fetched for 
English sympathies. 
Herb Robert, the wild species of this flower, has received 
many poetic tributes : the following verses are extracted from 
a poem addressed to it: 
“There is a small but lovely flower, 
With crimson star and calyx brown, 
On pathway side, beneath the bower, 
By Nature’s hand profusely strown. 
“ There are its rosy petals shown, 
’Midst curious forms and mosses rare, 
Imbedded in the dark grey stone, 
When not another flower is there. ” 
