PELARGON H" melanostictum.
Dark-spoiled Stork's-bill.
P. melanostictum, foliis cord, tis subqmnquelobis plains
insequaliter acute dentatis utrinque hirsutis, stipulis cor-
datis subdentatis, umbellis congestis 5-6-floris, pedicelhs
brevissimis, petalis inferioribus oblongo-obovatis, tubo
nectarifero calyce reflexo duplo breviore.
A stout growing upright bushy plant, with a frutescent
stem : branches thickly clothed with unequal spreading
villous hairs, as is every other part of the plant except the
corolla. Leaves cordate, rounded at the point, slightly
5-lobed, unequally toothed with shortish sharp teeth, very
soft to the touch, being thickly clothed with soft hairs on
both sides, strongly and numerously nerved underneath, the
nerves much branched: lower leaves overlapping at the
base : upper ones more inclining to wedge-shaped, deeper
and more sharply toothed. Petioles flattened, and channelled
a little on the upper side, convex on the lower, a
little widened close to the leaf. Stipules broad, broadly
cordate, ending in an acute point, generally toothed, and
fringed. Umbels 5 or 6-flowered. Peduncles a little flattened,
and furrowed a little, just below the umbel. Involucre
of about 6 broad, ovate, blunt, fringed bractes, some
of which are toothed, and terminate in a sort of mucro. Pedicles very short, much shorter than the bractes. Calyx
5-cleft, tinged with a brownish purple ; segments lanceolate,
acute; the upper largest and erect; the others more
or less reflexed. Nectariferous tube short, about half the
length of the calyx. Petals 5, the two upper ones broadly
obovate, unequal-sided, of a reddish lilac, marked with a
large dark velvetty spot, below which are several short dark
c 2