PELARGONIUM malachrsefolium.
Malachra-leaved Stork’s-bill.
P. malachrcefolium, foliis cordato-reniformibus subquin-
quelobis undulatis dentatis utrinque villoso-pilosis, sti-
pulis; lacero-dentatis, umbellis plurifloris, tubo nectari-
fero calyce subsequali.
Stem strong, frutescent, erect, much branched: branches
erect or slightly spreading, thickly clothed with soft
woolly hairs, that are very unequal in length. Leaves very
large, broader than long, between cordate and reniform,
slightly 5-lobed, rugged and undulate, toothed with numerous
bluntish teeth that are terminated by a short rigid
horny mucro, villosely hairy on both sides, strongly and
numerously nerved underneath; the nerves branched: upper
leaves more deeply lobed, those next to the flowers cu-
neate, and sharply toothed. Petioles flat on the upper
side and convex on the lower, broadest at the base, thickly
clothed with unequal woolly hairs. Stipules ovately lanceolate,
acute, generally deeply divided or more or less
toothed, fringed with long spreading hairs. Peduncles
cylindrical, more or less bent. Umbels 5 or 6-flowered. Involucre of 6 or 7 bractes, that are ovate, concave, villous
and fringed, and terminated by a sharp reddish brown mucro. Pedicles longer than the bractes. Calyon 5-cleft, segments
lanceolate, acute, villosely hairy, of a brownish purple, spreading,
or sometimes slightly reflexed at the point. Nectariferous
tube about the length of the calyx, much flattened
on each side, and gibbous at the base, of a purplish brown
colour. Petals 5, the two upper ones obovate, unequalsided,
of a purplish red, with a dark velvetty patch in the
centre, below which are numerous dark branching lines,
b 2