PELARGONIUM venustum.
Comely Stork’s-bill.
P. venustum, pedunculis subpaniculatis 3-5-florisve,
foliis reniformibus sublobatis denticulatis utrinque
pilosis, stipulis cordatis ciliatis, calycibus reflexis,
tubo nectarifero longitudine calycis.
Stem shrubby, erect, not much branched; branches
short, thickly clothed with long white spreading hairs,
as are the peduncles, calyx, and nectariferous tube.
Leaves kidney-shaped, slightly lobed and toothed with
very small pointed teeth, much veined underneath and
furrowed above, covered on both sides with short white
hairs. Petioles widely flattened and furrowed on the
upper side and convex on the lower, thickly clothed
with long spreading hairs. Stipules cordate, acute,
fringed. Peduncles panicled, 3 to 5-flowered. Involucre
of from 4 to 6 ovate bluntish bractes. Pedicles
unequal in length, a little bent upwards. Calyx 5-
cleft, segments reflexed or revolute, the upper one
twice as wide as the others add ovate, the others lanceolate.
Nectariferous tube about the length of the
calyx, widely flattened on each side and gibbous at the
base. Petals 5, the two upper ones roundly obovate,
of a pale blush or nearly white, with a large velvetty
spot in the centre on a red ground and a few short
purple lines below it and branching from i t : lower
petals oblong, nearly white. Filaments 10, united at
the base, seven bearing anthers. Pollen orange-coloured.
Style red, very hairy. Stigmas 5, red and
revolute.
This beautiful plant is a hybrid production, and
was raised at the Nursery of Mr. Colvill, from a seed