155
GERANIUM tuberosum.
Tuberous-rooted Italian Crane’s-bill.
G. tuberosum, pedunculis bifloris, foliis multipartitis :
segmentis linearibus pinnatifidis obtusis, petalis
obcordatis emarginatis calyce longioribus.
Geranium tuberosum. Willden. sp. pi. 3. p. 698. Pers.
syn. 2. p. 234. Hort. Kew. ed. 2. v. 4. p. 184. Cav.
disA. p. 199. t. 78. f . 1.
Root tuberous, perennial. Stems forked, long,
prostrate, thickly covered with short white hairs.
Leaves at the root large and much divided, upper ones
smaller and less divided, segments linear, pinnatifid,
obtuse. Stipules short, cordate or cordately lanceolate,
acute. Peduncles 2-flowered, or two 1-flowered
peduncles springing from the same joint. Involucre of
4 or 6 very short concave cordately lanceolate bluntish
bractes. Pedicles unequal in length, slightly curved.
Sepals 5, nearly equal, ovate, concave, fringed and
terminated with a short mucro. Petals 5, obcordate,
deeply emarginate, of a bright rosy purple, and longer
than the calyx. Filaments 10, slightly united at the
base, all bearing anthers. Germen and aristas villous.
Stigmas 5, sessile, slightly reflexed.
A very handsome and rare perennial, seldom to be
met with in our collections, though deserving a place
in them all for its beauty and singularity, being so unlike
all the others of the genus. We suspect the reason
of its being- so scarce is owing to the soil and
situation in which it is generally grown; for if it is
planted in strong soil or a moist situation, its tuberous