POETRY OP FLOWERS. 99 
from their blossoms’ fancied resemblance to the 
appendages of those birds. 
The Scented Geranium is considered typical 
of preference, a quality for which the softness 
of its leaves, the beauty of its bloom, and its 
fragrant odor, will most decidedly obtain it the 
award. It emits a delightful scent when lightly 
rubbed by the finger; and so accustomed are 
people to use this experiment, that a person ap¬ 
proaching a geranium almost mechanically rubs 
or plucks a leaf for the anticipated iDerfume. 
“And genteel geranium, 
With a leaf for all that come,” 
seldom fails to obtain notice and admiration, even 
when surrounded by the most curious or bril¬ 
liant 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. 
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 honors.” 
