Geranium

“ It looks like Mammy Susan has all the luck with citronella and I have luck with rose geranium. My bush is so big it looks like I'll have to get Jo's watering tub from the barn to plant it in. It has long out-grown its pot. I certainly do like to have plenty of healthy rose geranium on hand when I make apple jelly. Nothing gives it the flavour that a leaf of rose geranium will,—just pour the boiling jelly over a leaf—one to each glass. ”

“ On the grave itself someone in loving remembrance scatters the petals of red geranium, which seems of all things the home-loving, home-keeping flower. The poppies are for poets’ dreams which write themselves in the dancing morning wind, [59] clasp hands in prayer at sunset, and flutter away. Red geraniums seem born of the fireside where home has been since fire first came down out of heaven. Dreams and hearthfire both were dear to the sweet lady of Appledore, and both flowers commemorate her there. ”

“ Oil of geranium is produced from the rose or oak-leaved geranium, cuttings of which are planted in well sheltered beds in October. During the winter they are covered over with straw matting. In April they are taken up, and planted in rows in fields or upon easily irrigated terraces. Of water they require quantum sufficit; of nature's other gift, which cheers and not inebriates—the glorious sunshine—they cannot have too much. They soon grow into bushes three or four feet high. At Nice they generally flower at the end of August. At Grasse and cooler places they flower about the end of October. ”

“ But as it happens, the only geranium in my garden is the one which is grown solely for the scent of its leaves. One year where geraniums might have been I had blue-violet verbenas, sweet-scented and just as easy to grow. I was told to hairpin them to the ground, but out of obstinacy I grew them upright. They did not seem to mind. I have no rage against the blue lobelia, if it is put in a safe place where its colour can do no harm. I do not know why the white lobelia has so much less popularity. One is not bound to grow it as an edging. Now I come to think of it, I believe I hate all edgings. ”

“ Such plants as geranium, coleus, alyssum, scarlet salvia, ageratum and heliotrope may be used for these beds. It is a common practice to use geranium plants which are in bloom during the winter for bedding out during the summer, but such plants are tall and ungainly in form and have expended the greater part of their energies. It is better to propagate new plants by taking cuttings or slips late in the winter and setting out young, fresh, vigorous subjects. ”

“ She confided her pitiful history to this new-found friend, [Pg 78] who was so kind and sympathetic that the geranium grew warm and happy. Presently the sun shone out in the murky sky, and immediately the sunbeam glided along his golden thread and rejoined his parent. He did not, however, forsake the plant which had sheltered him, but frequently visited her, so that she forgot her struggle for life, and grew into a fine healthy geranium, much to the delight of her young master. ”

“ In fact it may be said that, from a popular point of view, the pelargoniums of the botanist are still better known as geraniums than are the geraniums themselves, but the term “zonal Pelargonium” is gradually making its way amongst the masses.
The species of Geranium consist mostly of herbs, of annual or perennial duration, dispersed throughout the temperate regions of the world. They number about 160, and bear a considerable family resemblance. ”

“ The larger-flowered species of Geranium are markedly protandrous, the outer stamens, inner stamens and stigmas becoming functional in succession. For instance, in meadow crane’s-bill G. pratense, each whorl of stamens ripens in turn, becoming erect and shedding their pollen; as the anthers wither the filaments bend outwards, and when all the anthers have diverged the stigmas become mature and ready for pollination. ”

“ Geranium foliis sub-obovatis, crassiusculis, integerrimis, radiatis, humi adpressis; calycibus monophyllis, laciniis erectis; floribus pentandris, maximis, luteis; radice tuberosa.
Geranium with leaves nearly obovate, thickish, quite entire, placed in a ray about the stem, and lying on the ground; cups of one leaf, the segments erect; flowers with five fertile chives, very large and yellow ”

“ P. quercifolium is the oak-leaf geranium. The ivy-leaf geranium, derived from P. peltatum, has given rise to an important class of both double- and single-flowered forms adapted especially for pot culture, hanging baskets, window boxes and the greenhouse. Of late years the ivy-leaf “geraniums” have been crossed with the “zonals,” and a new race is being gradually evolved from these two distinct groups.
The best soil for pelargoniums is a mellow fibrous loam with good well-rotted stable manure or leaf-mould in about the proportion of one-fifth ”

“ We must therefore, after him, think no Generic division necessary. For the sake of correctness, where a Genus is so extended in its species as Geranium, Erica, &c. are; the conformity of particular parts, may form a secondary arrangement, as we find it constantly in Linnæus; the Heaths, from the shape of their tips, the Geraniums, from the number of fertile Chives; which a French Botanist of the name of L’Heritier, has thought of sufficient moment to create two new Genera on, Erodium and Pelargonium, retaining the old name Geranium for those only, with ten perfect Chives. ”

“ The genus Geranium differs from Erodium principally in having the stamens all perfect;336 but the alternate ones are longer than the others, and have a gland at the base of each. The seed-pod is said to resemble the head of a crane, and when it bursts, the styles, which are smooth inside, curl up round and round like the coil of a rope. The seeds of many of the kinds are beautifully netted. Many of the species are British weeds, and among the commonest of these may be mentioned Herb Robert (Geranium Robertianum) , and the Meadow Crane’s-bill (G. pratense) . ”

“ In cold, stormy, cloudy weather a geranium blossom may remain in the male stage several days before becoming female; while on a warm, sunny day, when plenty of insects are flying, the change sometimes takes place in a few hours. Among others, the common sulphur or puddle butterfly, that sits in swarms on muddy roads and makes the clover fields gay with its bright little wings, pilfers nectar from the geranium without bringing its long tongue in contact with the pollen. Neither do the smaller bees and flies which alight on the petals necessarily come in contact with the anthers and stigmas. ”

“ We are now in a condition to comprehend the cause of some phenomena. A geranium (Pelargonium) stem, placed at a window, curves towards the light: this takes place, because the portion of stem nearest the window elaborates most sap: consequently, in this portion most vegetable fibre is formed. The portion away from the light, on the contrary, has most ascending sap, which forms fleshy tissue, and lengthens the stem; the half of the stem remote from the light is therefore longer, that next the window is shorter ”

“ To some people this wide popularity renders it less desirable, but with those who grow plants for their intrinsic beauty and not because they may or may not be in vogue the geranium with its healthy vitality, its attractive foliage and its simply marvelous range of color and delicate shadings will always be a favorite. ”

“ In the material world new discoveries are continually upsetting old conclusions; and we are now told that our geraniums and fuchsias have a natural affinity for tight-bottomed tomato cans! The finest geranium in my present collection has the proud distinction of growing in a water-tight lard kettle. Though a young and blooming plant, it was held in light esteem by its owner because of a vicious tendency to magenta, and in the autumn, no pot being at hand, was given this apparently thin chance of survival. ”

“ We may regard the Geraniums as herbs of Europe, and the Pelargoniums as miniature trees of Africa. When we examine the flowers, we find the fine petals of a true Geranium of precisely the same shape and size; but the fine petals of a Pelargonium are not so, for sometimes the topmost are the largest, and stand apart from the rest with great dignity, like mother and father looking down on their dutiful daughters, and in other cases they are the smallest, suggesting that the daughters have grown too fast and become unmanageable. ”

“ Geranium with hairy leaves many-cleft; flowers with seven fertile chives; foot-stalk, many flowers; petals dark purple, pale at the margin; stem half shrubby, grows a span high.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The Empalement, cut open as far as to the solid part.
2. The Chives and Pointal.
3. The Chives cut and spread open, magnified.
4. The Pointal, magnified.
This beautiful species of Geranium was raised by Mr. J. Armstrong, nurseryman of Northwarmborough, Hants, from seeds received by him, in 1796, from the Cape of Good Hope. ”

“ It forms a bushy, compact plant, and bears a solid mass of foliage. No attention whatever is required in the way of pruning. The plant trains itself. The ordinary flowering Geranium must be pinched back, and pruned constantly to prevent it from becoming "leggy," but there is [Pg 221] no trouble of this kind with Madame Salleroi. Its branches, of which there will often be fifty or more from a plant, are all sent up from the crown of the plant, and seldom grow to be more than five or six inches in length. Each branch may have a score of leaves, borne on stems about four inches long. ”

“ New geranium plants are usually procured in this way. In fact, the old plant is often cut entirely up into sections and each section is planted in an earthen pot. They are kept damp, and soon throw out roots. ”

“ This Wood Geranium is a beautiful species, and would no doubt repay the trouble of cultivation. Besides being very ornamental our plant possesses virtues which are well known to the herbalist as powerful astringents, which quality has obtained for it the name of ‘Alum root’ among the country people, who apply a decoction of the root as a styptic for wounds ”

“ A man was looking at him. A man was in the window across the alley looking straight at him. The man was watching him cry. That was where the geranium was supposed to be and it was a man in his undershirt, watching him cry, waiting to watch his throat pop. Old Dudley looked back at the man. It was supposed to be the geranium. The geranium belonged there, not the man. "Where is the geranium?" he called out of his tight throat.
"What you cryin' for?" the man asked. "I ain't never seen a man cry like that."
"Where is the geranium?" Old Dudley quavered. "It ought to be there. Not you." ”

“ Before school some nasturtiums were brought, then Sophy came with a large pink geranium. There is a little berry (the crowberry) they eat here which I think rather nasty; roots of this were brought, and also some sweetbriar and wild geranium which has a very sweet smell. What especially pleased me was a plant much resembling the blackberry. Gifts so poured in, it was really difficult to know where to plant them all. Yesterday we put in some strawberry plants.
I have been trying plaiting the leaves of the flax plant, which grows luxuriantly here, and making a mat of them. ”

“ This plant, from Dammara Land in S. Africa, is remarkable from being the one known member of the Family which is not a climber; it has been described in ‘Transact. Linn. Soc.,’ xxvii. p. 30.
Geranium rotundifolium (Geraniaceae) .—A single seedling came up accidentally in a pot, and its cotyledons were observed to bend perpendicularly downwards during several successive nights, having been horizontal at noon. It grew into a fine plant but died before flowering: it was sent to Kew and pronounced to be certainly a Geranium, and in all probability the above-named species. ”

“ The awns are furnished with stiff points, all turning towards one end, which extend when moist, and shorten when dry. The points, too, prevent their receding, so that they are drawn up or forward; as moisture is returned, they advance and so on; indeed they may be actually seen to travel forwards. The capsules of the geranium furnish admirable barometers. Fasten the beard, when fully ripe, upon a stand, and it will twist itself, or untwist, according as the air is moist or dry. The flowers of the chick-weed, convolvulus, and oxalis, or wood sorrel, close their petals on the approach of rain. ”

“ If he does not edge them with blue lobelia, he edges them with some yellow stuff which I think he calls pyrethrum. One has only to smell it once never to try it again. At the same time there are some super-cultured people who carry the hatred of the geranium to an unreasonable extent. There is a white one which does not make me ill, and a pink one which is not too hideous. ”

“ It is a good plan for every one who has not seen the geranium seed case try to plant itself, to gather some ripe seeds and lay them on the earth in a flower pot. Let them get dry, then moisten them, then let them become dry again, and so on, until one has seen just how they work. ”

“ From an imported plant, in the Hibbertian collection, our drawing was made this year.
A continual harping on the same subject, may perhaps appear rather tiresome; but, as almost every real new species of Geranium, which falls under our observation, seems to add a fresh proof of the futility of the new arrangement, we cannot forbear noticing it. This species, for instance, has every other essential generic character of Monsieur L’Heritier’s Pelargonium, but unfortunately the most essential. ”