PELARGONIUM Potteri.
Potter’s Stork’s-bill.
P. Potteri, umbellis multifloris subpaniculatis, foliis
cordatis trifidis multinerviis: segmentis lobatis
grosseque crenato-dentatis, stipulis lanceolatis acu-
tis, tubo nectarifero calyce sesquilongiori.
Stem shrubby, rather succulent, branching: branches
short and stiff, thickly clothed with long unequal villous
hairs, as are the petioles, peduncles, and calyx.
Leaves slightly cordate, deeply 3-cleft, many-nerved,
and covered on both sides with short soft hairs; segments
lobed, unequally and deeply notched; teeth
bluntish and rounded. Petioles shorter than the leaf,
flattened and furrowed on the upper side and convex
on the lower, widened at the base. Stipules lanceolate
acute, dilated at the base. Peduncles sometimes pa-
nicled, many-flowered. Involucre of six lanceolate,
acute, fringed bractes. Pedicles shorter than the calyx,
about the length of the bractes. Calyx 5-cleft, upper
segment widely lanceolate, erect, the others narrower
and reflexed. Nectariferous tube about half as long
again as the calyx, flattened on each side and gibbous
at the base. Petals 5, the two upper ones roundly
obovate, of an orangy scarlet colour, marked at the
base with numerous dark lines which branch in various
directions, and between the lines from the base is a
forked white mark: lower petals oblong, obtuse, of
rather a lighter colour. Filaments 10, united at the
base, 7 bearing anthers, which in our specimens were
always sterile. Style flesh-coloured, hairy at the base
and smooth upwards. Stigmas 5, red and reflexed.
This pretty plant is of hybrid origin, having been
raised from a seed of P. fulgidum that was fertilized