PELARGONIUM tomentosum.
Penny-royal Stork’s-bill.
P. tomentosum, umbellis multifloris subpaniculatis, fo-
liis cordatis hastato-quinquelobis villosis mollissi-
mis, tubo nectarifero calyce duplo breviori.
Pelargonium tomentosum. Willden. sp. pi. 3. p. 677.
Botan. magaz. 518. Jacq. ic. rar. 3. t. 537. ColL
5. p. 140. Pers.syn. 2. p. 232. Hort. Kew. ed. 2.
v. 4. p. 177.
Stem shrubby, thick and succulent, much branched
; branches widely spreading in all directions, thickly
clothed with long villous hairs. Leaves cordate, sub-
hastate, 5-lobed, unequally toothed with short rigid
teeth, many-nerved, densely tomentose on each side.
Petioles longer than the leaves, deeply furrowed on the
upper side and rounded on the lower, thickly clothed
with long shaggy hairs. Stipules cordate, acute,
densely villous. Umbels many-flowered, generally pa-
nicled, divaricate. Peduncles cylindrical, villous, as
are the calyx and bractes. Involucre of 6 or 7 ovate,
acuminate, fringed bractes. Pedicles unequal in length,
long and slender, spreading. Calyx 5-cleft, segments
lanceolate, acute. Nectariferous tube about half the
length of the calyx. Petals 5, the two upper ones ob-
longly obovate, white, with a red spot near the base;
lower ones linearly spatulate, of the same colour.
Filaments 10, united at the base, of a red colour, seven
bearing anthers. Pollen orange-coloured. Germen and
aristae hairy. Style hairy. Stigmas 5, reflexed.
This plant, often known by the name of the Peppermint
scented Geranium, is an old inhabitant of our