[ I 486 ]
GERANIUM robertianum.
Stinking Crane s-bill.
MONADELPHIA Decandria.
Gen. Char. Cal. 5-leaved. Pet. 5, regular. Nectary
5 glands. Fruit beaked, separating into 5 capsules,
each tipped with a long recurved naked awn.
Spec. Char. Stalks two-flowered. Leaves somewhat
pedate, pinnatifid, five-angled. Calyx with ten
angles. Capsules rugged.
Syn. Geranium robertianum. Linn. Sp. PI. 955. Sm.
FI. Brit. 732. Huds. 305. With. 608. Hull. 153.
Relh. 267. Sibth. 215. Abbot. 149. Curt. Lond.
fa sc. 1. t. 52. Raii Syn. 358. Ger. em. 939.
/3. G. lucidum saxatile, foliis Geranii robertiani.
Raii Syn. 358.
V e r y common in waste ground, on walls, banks, and even
in groves and shady places. In the latter its bright red flowers
are seen, throughout the summer and autumn, peeping through
the umbrageous foliage of other plants. In exposed spots the
plant is more conspicuous for the bright shining red assumed
by its stems and lower leaves (as in G. lucidum, t. 75) j but
in such places its duration is much shorter, and its size much
smaller, than in the shade.
The root is fibrous and annual. Stems spreading, brittle,
round, red. Leaves on long stalks, ternate, cut in a pedate
manner, their outline five-angled, their surface shining, more
or less hairy. Flowers on long cloven axillary and terminal
stalks. Calyx hairy, with 10 angles. Petals undivided,
purple, with a palmate white mark at the base. Stamina
smooth, all fertile. Capsules oblong, rugged, simply keeled.
Seeds quite smooth.
The whole herb has a strong and peculiar scent. In maritime
situations the leaves are more fleshy and shining, and the
petals often white.
Jt8o£.jpuH >jp?teAl' A y *A sA A otver& y, J Z e rttZ e it/