Geranium (Gr. a crane), the botanical name of one genus and the popular name of another genus of plants belonging to the family geraniacem. Plants of the genus geranium are herbs with perennial, biennial, or annual roots; stems swollen at the joints; leaves usually rounded and palmately lobed or dissected; flower stalks terminal or lateral, one-to three-flowered; flowers symmetrical, parts in fives, petals equal; stamens ten, in two series, the five outer ones opposite the petals and sterile; alternating with the petals are five small glands upon the receptacle; the pistil consists of five two-ovuled carpels united to a prolongation of the axis. As the pistil matures this axis and the attached stvles elongate and form a pointed fruit about an inch and a half long; the beak-like character of the fruit suggested the popular name of cranesbill, and probably the botanical name for the genus also. When quite ripe the carpels break away from the central axis, the small one-seeded pods remaining attached to the styles, the separation taking place from below upward. Six species of geranium or cranesbill are found east of the Mississippi, and a few others are peculiar to the western side of our territory.

The only perennial among the eastern species, and at the same time the largest and best known, is G. macu-latum, the spotted cranesbill; its stem is about two feet high, each of its numerous branches bearing two light purple flowers about an inch across; the leaves are about live-parted, with the divisions cut at the ends; when old they sometimes have whitish blotches, on account of which not very conspicuous character the specific name was given. The root stock of this plant is very astringent, and is not only a popular doinestic remedy in diseases of the bowels and other cases where astringents are required, but is officinal in the United States pharmacopoeia. On account of its astringency it is in some places called alum-root, a name which properly belongs to Heuchera, and should be restricted to it. Of the annual kinds we have G. Robertianum, or herb Robert, a beautiful plant common in our woods, especially among rocks and in the rich black mould of their crevices, where it is partially shaded.

Its flowers, though small, are numerous and

Spotted Cranesbill (Geranium maculatum).

Herb Robert (Geranium Robertianum).

prettily striped and rosy, and its foliage is so delicately cut and borne upon long slender petioles, that it is well adapted for the garden, especially in the rockwork. A heavy disagreeable odor is however emitted from its leaves, if handled. Frequently in the autumn the leaves are curiously dotted with minute black specks, the perithecia of a parasitic fundus (dothidea Robertiatium). G. Carolinia-num, similar, with paler flowers and scentless foliage, erroneously supposed to be G. dissection, occurs in waste places on barren soils, and is widely diffused. G. pusillum (small-fiow-ered cranesbill), with slender stems, rounded, five-parted, kidney-formed leaves, and small bluish-purple petals, has been found in waste places in Ncw York and Massachusetts. The last three are natives of Europe, naturalized in this country. Some exotic perennial species are cultivated in our gardens; the commonest of these is G. sanguineum, a native of England, with deep crimson-purple flowers which bloom nearly all summer; a variety of this is known as G. Lancastricnse. G. Ibericum, G.pratense, and a few others are also grown.

The anemone-leaved geranium, G. anemonefolium, is a greenhouse species, with beautifully divided leaves, from the Cape of Good Hope. - Geranium is the name popularly given to the species and varieties of pelargonium, so generally cultivated. The genus pelargonium differs from geranium in several characters, the most obvious of which are the half-shrubby character of the stems and the somewhat irregular flowers. One of the sepals or divisions of the calyx has its base prolonged, which runs down on one side of the pedicle or flower stalk as an adherent spur, as may be seen in a cross section of the pedicle; the two petals nearest this sepal are often different from the others in size and shape; stamens that bear anthers usually seven, always less than ten; pistil as in geranium. The name, as with geranium, is suggested by the fancied resemblance of the fruit to the bill of a bird, but in this case it is the stork in place of the crane (Gr. a stork). There are no more popular tender plants than the various pelargoniums, whether for window culture, summer bedding plants, or choice ornaments to the conservatory and greenhouse. Though the name geranium applied to them is incorrect, it has become so firmly attached by long usage that no change is probable. As with many other plants that have been long in cultivation, the pelargoniums have become so mixed by hybridizing, crossing, and sporting, that it is generally difficult to determine the species from which they originated. The Cape of Good Hope has furnished a large majority of the species, a few only having come from Australia and elsewhere. A scientific classification being impracticable, it will serve our purpose to group them after the manner of the florist. The scented pelargoniums include a number that have fragrant foliage and generally inconspicuous flowers. The best known is the rose geranium, P. capita-turn, which is probably the oldest species in cultivation, it having been carried to England in 1690; its lobed, downy, pleasantly scented leaves are well known; there is a variety with the leaves edged with white.

The peppermint geranium is P tomentosum; the nutmeg-scented, P. odoratissimum; and the pennyroyal-scented, P. exstipulatum. The ivy-leaved pelargoniums form a very distinct group, distinguished by their smooth, fleshy leaves, lobed like those of the ivy, and their weak and trailing stems; they are mainly derived from P. peltatum and P. lateripes. Within a few years great improvement has been made in this class, and they now present a great variety in foliage and flowers; their prostrate habit especially adapts them to cultivation in vases and hanging baskets. Florists1 pelargoniums, or show pelargoniums as they are often called, have rounded leaves and flowers, often somewhat irregular, of the greatest beauty of color and markings; they have resulted from long-continued crossings, and their origin is so obscure that recent French writers name them all P. hortulanorum, the pelargonium of the gardeners. This class is only seen in perfection in greenhouses, and it requires great care and skill to make a fine show of them.

We then have a large class that flower indoors in winter, and are turned out into the borders in summer, where they are used in masses to produce fine effects by their flowers or foliage; the foliage of these has an unpleasant odor, and some of them are popularly known as fish geraniums. The old scarlet geranium, P. in-quinans, and the horseshoe geranium, P. zonale, are the principal species from which this class originated; the flowers range from white to the most dazzling scarlet and dark crimson; of late a number with double flowers have been introduced; their foliage is often highly ornamental, it being variegated with white, yellow, pink, and other shades upon the green. The florists do not agree in their classification of these varieties; their principal divisions are into nosegay, zonale, bronze-zoned, gold and silver tricolors, and gold and silver margined. Some of the tricolors, of which;"Mrs. Pollock may be taken as the type, have leaves beautifully colored; but these do not flourish well in our hot summers, and are only seen in perfection when grown under glass.

Pelargoniums grow readily from seed, and if started early in a hotbed the plants may be had in bloom the same season; the plants have such a mixed and varied ancestry that seeds from almost any of our cultivated kinds are likely to produce plants different from the immediate parent.

Scarlet Geranium (Pelargonium inquinans).

Horseshoe Geranium (Pelargonium zonale).

Pin Grass (Erodium cicutarium).

Those who engage in the production of new varieties practise careful crossing, using the pollen of one variety upon the pistil of another in the usual way. The varieties are perpetuated by propagating from cuttings, which readily take root; the commercial florists propagate them all winter for the spring sales; the amateur can readily multiply them in the open ground after the hot weather of summer is over. Cuttings two to six inches long, planted in a shady place, will soon take root and make good plants for winter blooming; if the stems from which the cuttings are to he taken are very succulent, they should be cut half or two thirds through, and when the wounded surface has dried the cutting can be entirely removed. - Erodium (Gr. a heron) is a genus closely related to geranium, from which it principally differs in having the leaves pinnately instead of palmately divided, and in the twisting of the styles when in fruit they break away from th'e beak-like receptacle. The plants are mostly natives of Europe and the East, and there is one species indigenous to Texas, E. Texanum. The only erodium of special interest is E. cicu-tarium, which is sparingly naturalized in some of the eastern states, and abundantly so on the Pacific coast, where it is of great service as a forage plant, its young growth furnishing a bite to the cattle when there is but little else for them to eat. It is known as pin grass, and also by the Mexican name of alfilaria.