9S LANGUAGE AND 
GERANIUM. 
Pelargonium capitatum . Class 16 ; Order 7 
DECEIT.—PREFERENCE. 
Others may wear a gayer smile, 
And speak in richer tones; 
But ah ! my heart, my heart, the while. 
Each spell save thine disowns. 
Dearer to me one word of thine 
Than all that others speak; 
My heart I lay upon thy shrine— 
Accept it ere it break. 
There are as many florigraphical meanings 
attached to this choice flower as there are varie¬ 
ties of it, and they, veritably, are numberless ; 
but we have selected the symbol that appears to 
appertain to the genus in general. The name 
Geranium is derived from the Greek, and signi¬ 
fies a crane, the fruit bearing some resemblance 
to the form of a crane’s bill and head. Indeed, 
the old English designation for the wild species 
of this flower was “crane’s-bill;’ but the clas¬ 
sic form has entirely superseded it of late, as it 
has also consigned to oblivion its other titlo, 
when in an untamed state, of Herb Robert. 
This plant is divided into three genera; Ero- 
dium, Pelargonium, and Geranium, respectively 
signifying “ heron’s-bill,” “ stork’s-bill,” and 
“ crane’s-bill,” all of which names are derived 
