PELARGONIUM Comptoniae.
The Marchioness of Northampton’s Stork’s-bill.
P. Comptoniae, umbellis 3-4 florisve, foliis planis basi
cuneatis v. cordatis oblatis trilobis insequaliter obtuse
denticulatis : lobis divaricatis obtusis, stipulis
cordatis obtusiusculis, calycibus patentibus, tubo
nectarifero longitudine calycis.
Stem shrubby, much branched: branches slender,
flexuose, thickly clothed with soft white unequal hairs,
as are the petioles, peduncles, and calyx. Leaves
flat, wider than long, wedge-shaped at the base or
sometimes cordate, deeply 3-lobed, unequally toothed
with short bluntish teeth, and covered on both sides
with short close-pressed canescent hairs, which give
them a kind of hoary appearance; lobes blunt and
spreading: upper leaves narrower and more acute.
Petioles unequal in length, a little widened at the base,
flattened and furrowed on the upper side and convex
on the lower. Stipules cordate, bluntish, entire and
ciliate. Peduncles longer than the leaves, 3 or 4
flowered. Involucre of about 4 cox-date, acute, concave
bractes, which are keeled and ciliate. Pedicles
long and slender, unequal in length. Calyx 5-cleft,
segments narrowly lanceolate, taper-pointed, slightly
spreading. Nectariferous tube about the length of the
calyx, flattened and furrowed on each side, gibbous at
the base, and thickly clothed with short white hairs.
Petals 5, the two uppermost roundly obovate, oblique
at the base, of a fine rosy purple, with a large dark,
velvet spot in the centre and a few lines slightly
branching from i t : lower petals obovate, obtuse, of a
lighter colour. Filaments 10, united at the base, 7
bearing anthers. Pollen orange-coloured. German
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