Refugium Botanicum.] [Adugust, 1868. 
TAB. 29. 
Natural Order GERANIACEX. 
Tribe PELARGONIES. 
Genus Prenarconium, L’ Herit. 
Sect. PeristEra. Annuum vel biennis, caulibus herbaceis prostratis dif- 
fusis, foliis dissectis, stipulis membranaceis, floribus minutis, petalis 
subzqualibus, calyce subeequautibus vel brevioribus, staminibus fer- 
tilibus 5. 
P. rumartoipEs (L’Herit. in Herb. Banks.)  Petiolis longis paullulum 
argenteis, foliis deltoideis subglabris bi- vel tripinnatifidis segmentis 
ultimis linearibus, umbellis 6—8 floris breviter pedunculatis, pedi- 
cellis demum calyce multo excedentibus, calycis tubo subnullo, 
sepalis oblongo-lanceolatis argenteis petalis excedentibus. — Harv. 
Fl. Cap. 1. p. 290. P. parvulum, E. and Z. non D.C. P. colwm- 
binum, E'. Meyer, non Jacq. 
A native of the Cape of Good Hope. 
One of the least showy members of this great genus, a plant in 
general aspect looking far more like one of our humble English 
Geranwms than the kinds commonly cultivated, and by the cha- 
racter of its calyx having almost as much claim to be considered 
an Hrodium as a Pelargonium, to which former genus Zeyher has 
already referred it. Roots annual or biennial, producing at the 
crown a large number of copiously-branched ditfuse slender her- 
baceous stems, which are nearly naked below, but become slightly 
argenteous upwards. Stipules small, membranous, deltoid-acumi- 
nate. Petioles slender, those of the upper leaves short, of the 
lower ones one to two inches long. Jueaves deltoid in general 
outline, bi- or tripinnatifid, with close main divisions and linear 
ultimate ones, herbaceous in texture, full green and nearly naked 
on both sides. Flowers in short-stalked wmbels of six to eight 
flowers each, from the axils of the leaves. Pedicels at first very 
short, finally two or three lines long, decurved, and then again 
upcurved when the fruit is developed, more or less argenteous ; 
the bracts membranous, lanceolate-acuminate. Calyx-tube very 
short, the divisions about an eighth of an inch deep, oblong- 
lanceolate, obtuse, densely clothed on the outside with silvery 
pubescence. Petals bright crimson or white, subequal, oblanceo- 
late, emarginate at the apex, considerably shorter than the sepals. 
