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P L A T E CXV.
G E R A N I U M TOMENTOSUM.
Downy-leaved Geranium.
C L A S S XVL ORDE R IV.
MONODELPHIA DECANDRIA.
of Suffl. Syjietn. Veg.
1781.
T h r e a d s uni ted. Ten Chives.
See Gcran. Grandifloruni,
PI. XII. Foil.
ESSENTIAL
Monogyna. Stigmata quinque.
F k u c t u s roftratus, penta-coccus.
GENERAC CHAEACTEE.
OnePoiNTAL. Five Summits,
F e u i t furniilied with long awns, five dry berries.
SPECIFIC
Geranium foliis ovatis, plicatis, eredis, ferratis,
tomentofis; floribus pentandris; filamentis
duobus fuperioribus revolutis, ciliatis.
CHAKACTEE.
Geranium witli egg-flaped leaves, plaited, upright,
lawed, and downy; flowers with five
fertile chives; the two upper threads rolled
back and fringed.
EEFEEENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The Empalement.
2. The Chives and Pointai, natural fize.
3. The Chives cut open, magnified.
4. The Pointai, and Seed-bud
Cape or Good Hope, in the year I79i ; ¡s a dwarf growing, and rather delicate fpeeies, of this
extended and very mutable tribe of plants; producing its flowers about the month of A u ^ u i It s
to be mcreafed from the feeds which fometimes ripen; or by cuttings, taken oiF in the m'onth of
March and placed on a gentle hotbed; but if delayed to be made till much later, it will be found
difficult to propagate by this mode. Lefs of dung and more loam, than is neceifary for moft Geraniums,
will preferve this plant beft through the winter; in which feafon, it Ihould be kept in a drv
and airy part of the greenhoufe, to avoid tlie damps, which otherwife, often prove fatal to it
That the charm of novelty, however erroneous or abfurd, has found at all times its votaries we
have da.ly experience; therefore cannot wonder at, though we may regret its confequent influence
on the many, who wifli to fignalize themfelves, tinder its delufive banner. This obfervation naturally
obtruded on our imagination, upon the perufal of the laft Number of the Bot. Ma<r where the Kid
ney-leaved Crane s-hill is mentioned as " of the rareft of the Geranium trihe;" are°we to underftand
Geranium m this place as a new title for a natural order of plants; or, as folely confined to one
Genus? Poor Geranium! although thou hatl been fo long excluded from thy ftation in fcientific
Enghih yet flialt thou not lofe thy due weight, againft all thy opponents, in pure defcriptive Enhfli
profe r and perhaps fome day may be deemed, by the learned, worthy a place amongft EngliA
Genera of M. L Hcnt ier ; and that, if new Latin names are to be foifted on us, for plants already well
known and fettled, by that great matter of the fcience, Linnaeus; to whofe opinion ours iliall ever
bow Enghih ones confonant, fliould be likewife adopted; and that Heron's-bill forErodium, Stork',-
bill for Pelargonmm, and Crane's-bill for Geranium, will prove no greater puzzle to the EnglilL Botanift
Unfortunately we are, and have been, fo attached to old fafliions, that we ftill mean to continue the'
tide Geranium, as it is apparently beft underftood; whether, in Englifli or Latin, defcriptive, or
fcientific; as long as the public fliall continue fo honourably to patronize the Botanift's Repofitory
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