_Herbs (rarely shrubs) with the regular and symmetrical hypogynous flowers 4--6-merous throughout, strongly imbricated calyx and convolute petals, 5 stamens monadelphous at base, and an 8--10-seeded pod, having twice as many cells as there are styles._ Represented by the genus,

1. LNUM, Tourn. FLAX.

Sepals (persistent), petals, stamens, and styles 5, regularly alternate with each other. Pod of 5 united carpels (into which it splits in dehiscence) and 5-celled, with 2 seeds hanging from the summit of each cell, which is partly or completely divided into two by a false part.i.tion projecting from the back of the carpel, the pod thus becoming 10-celled. Seeds anatropous, mucilaginous, flattened, containing a large embryo with plano-convex cotyledons.--Herbs, with tough fibrous bark, simple and sessile entire leaves (alternate or often opposite), without stipules, but often with glands in their place, and with corymbose or panicled flowers. Corolla usually ephemeral. (The cla.s.sical name of the Flax.)

[*] _Flowers rather small, yellow; glabrous, 1--2 high._

1. L. Virginianum, L. Stem erect from the base and with the corymbose spreading or recurving _branches terete and even_; no stipular glands; leaves oblong or lanceolate, or the lower spatulate and often opposite; flowers scattered, small (barely 3" long); sepals ovate, pointed, smooth-edged or nearly so, equalling the depressed 10-celled pod; styles distinct.--Dry woods; common.--Root apparently annual; but the plant propagates by suckers from the base of the stem.

L. FLORIDaNUM, Trelease, of rather stricter habit and the pods broadly ovate and obtuse, appears to have been found in S. Ill.

2. L. striatum, Walt. Stems gregarious, erect or ascending from a creeping or dec.u.mbent base, slightly viscid, and with the mostly racemose short _branches striate with about 4 sharp wing-like angles_ decurrent from the leaves; these broader than in the last, and mostly oblong, usually with all the lower ones opposite; flowers more crowded; sepals scarcely equalling the very small subglobose brownish pod; otherwise nearly as n. 1.--Wet or boggy grounds, E. Ma.s.s. to Lakes Ontario and Huron, Ill., and southward.

3. L. sulcatum, Riddell. Stem strictly erect from an annual root, and with the upright or ascending branches wing-angled or grooved; leaves alternate, linear, acute, the upper subulate and glandular-serrulate; a pair of _dark glands in place of stipules_; sepals ovate-lanceolate and sharp-pointed, strongly 3-nerved and with rough-bristly-glandular margins, scarcely longer than the ovoid-globose incompletely 10-celled pod; _styles united_ almost to the middle.--Dry soils, E. Ma.s.s. to Minn., and southwestward.--Flowers and pods twice as large as in the preceding.

4. L. rigidum, Pursh. Glaucous, sometimes slightly p.u.b.erulent, often low and cespitose, the rigid branches angled; leaves narrow, erect, usually with stipular glands; flowers large; sepals lanceolate, glandular-serrulate; styles united; capsule ovoid, 5-valved.--Minn. to Kan., and southward.

[*][*] _Flowers large, blue._

5. L. perenne, L., var. Lewisii, Eat. & Wright. Perennial, glabrous and glaucous, 1--3 high; leaves linear, acute; flowers rather few on long peduncles; sepals obtuse or acutish, not glandular-serrulate; styles distinct; pod ovate.--Minn. to Neb., and westward. (Eu., Asia.)

L. USITATiSSIMUM, L. (COMMON FLAX.) Annual; stem corymbosely branched at top; sepals acute, ciliate.--Occasionally spontaneous in fields. (Adv.

from Eu.)

ORDER 23. GERANIaCEae. (GERANIUM FAMILY.)

_Plants (chiefly herbs) with perfect and generally symmetrical hypogynous flowers; the stamens, counting sterile filaments, as many or commonly twice as many, and the lobes or cells (1--few-ovuled) of the ovary as many, as the sepals, the axis of the dry fruit persisting._--Seeds without alb.u.men except in Oxalis. Flowers mostly 5-merous and the sepals usually distinct. Leaves never punctate. An order not easily defined, and including several strongly marked tribes or suborders which have been regarded by many botanists as distinct.

Tribe I. GERANIEae. (GERANIUM FAMILY proper.) Flowers regular, 5-merous, the sepals imbricate in the bud, persistent. Glands of the disk 5, alternate with the petals. Stamens somewhat united. Ovary deeply lobed; carpels 5, 2-ovuled, 1-seeded, separating elastically with their long styles, when mature, from the elongated axis. Cotyledons plicate, inc.u.mbent on the radicle.--Herbs (our species) with more or less lobed or divided leaves, stipules, and astringent roots.

1. Geranium. Stamens with anthers 10, rarely 5. The recurving bases of the styles or tails of the carpels in fruit naked inside.

2. Erodium. Stamens with anthers only 5. Tails of the carpels in fruit bearded inside, often spirally twisted.

Tribe II. LIMNaNTHEae. Flowers regular, 3-merous (in Flrkea), the persistent sepals valvate. Glands alternate with the petals. Stamens distinct. Carpels nearly distinct, with a common style, 1-ovuled, 1-seeded, at length fleshy and indehiscent, not beaked, separating from the very short axis. Embryo straight, cotyledons very thick, radicle very short.--Low tender annuals, with alternate pinnate leaves and no stipules.

3. Flrkea. Sepals, minute pistils, and lobes of the ovary 3, stamens 6.

Tribe III. OXALiDEae. (SORREL FAMILY.) Flowers regular, 5-merous, the persistent sepals imbricate. Glands none. Stamens 10, often united at base. Stigmas capitate. Fruit a 5-celled loculicidal pod (in Oxalis); cells 2--several-seeded. Embryo straight, in a little fleshy alb.u.men.--Leaves compound (3-foliolate in our species); juice sour.

4. Oxalis. Styles 5, separate. Pod oblong, the valves not falling away.

Leaflets usually obcordate.

Tribe IV. BALSAMiNEae. (BALSAM FAMILY.) Flowers irregular (5-merous as to the stamens and pistil); the petals and colored sepals fewer in number, deciduous, the larger sepal with a large sac or spur. Glands none.

Stamens 5, distinct, short. Fruit a fleshy 5-celled pod (in Impatiens), cells several-seeded. Embryo straight.--Tender and very succulent herbs, with simple leaves and no stipules.

5. Impatiens. Lateral petals unequally 2-lobed. Pod bursting elastically into 5 valves.

1. GERANIUM, Tourn. CRANESBILL.

Stamens 10 (sometimes only 5 in n. 3), all with perfect anthers, the 5 longer with glands at their base (alternate with the petals). Styles smooth inside in fruit when they separate from the axis.--Stems forking.

Peduncles 1--3-flowered. (An old Greek name from ???a???, _a crane_, the long fruit bearing beak thought to resemble the bill of that bird.)

[*] _Rootstock perennial._

1. G. maculatum, L. (WILD CRANESBILL.) Stem erect, hairy; leaves about 5-parted, the wedge-shaped divisions lobed and cut at the end, sepals slender-pointed, petals entire, light purple, bearded on the claw ('

long).--Open woods and fields. April--July.--Leaves somewhat blotched with whitish as they grow old.

[*][*] _Root biennial or annual; flowers small._

[+] _Leaves ternately much dissected, heavy-scented._

2. G. Robertianum, L. (HERB ROBERT.) Spa.r.s.ely hairy, diffuse, strong-scented, leaves 3-divided or pedately 5-divided, the divisions twice pinnatifid; sepals awned, shorter than the (red-purple) petals; carpels wrinkled; seeds smooth.--Moist woods and shaded ravines; N. Eng.

to Mo., and northward. June--Oct. (Eu.)

[+][+] _Leaves palmately lobed or dissected._

3. G. Carolinianum, L. Stems at first erect, diffusely branched from the base, hairy; leaves about 5-parted, the divisions cleft and cut into numerous oblong-linear lobes; peduncles and pedicels short; _sepals awn-pointed_, as long as the emarginate (pale rose-colored) petals; carpels hairy; _seeds ovoid-oblong, very minutely reticulated._--Barren soil and waste places; common. May--Aug.--Depauperate forms, except by the seeds, are hardly distinguishable from

G. DISSeCTUM, L. More slender and spreading, with narrower lobes to the crowded leaves, and smaller red-purple petals notched at the end; _seeds short-ovoid or globular, finely and deeply pitted._--Waste grounds, rare. (Nat. from Eu.)

G. ROTUNDIFLIUM, L. With the habit of the next but the fruit and seed of the last; villous with long white hairs tipped with purple glands, leaves short-lobed.--Rare. (Nat. from Eu.)

G. PUSiLLUM, L. Stems proc.u.mbent, slender, minutely p.u.b.escent; _leaves rounded kidney-form_, 5--7-parted, the divisions wedge-shaped, mostly 3-lobed, _sepals awnless_, about as long as the (purplish) petals; stamens 5; fruit p.u.b.escent; _seeds smooth._--Waste places, Ma.s.s. to Penn.; rare. (Nat. from Eu.)

G. MoLLE, L. Like the last; more p.u.b.escent; flowers dark purple; stamens 10; carpels transversely wrinkled, seed slightly striate.--Occasionally spontaneous. (Nat. from Eu.)

G. COLUMBNUM. (LONG-STALKED C.) Minutely hairy, with very slender dec.u.mbent stems; leaves 5--7-parted and cut into narrow linear lobes; _peduncles and pedicels filiform and elongate_; sepals awned, about equalling the purple petals, enlarging after flowering; _carpels glabrous_; seeds nearly as in G. dissectum.--Rarely introduced; Penn.

and southward. June, July. (Nat. from Eu.)

G. SIBiRIc.u.m, L. Slender, repeatedly forked, short-villous; leaves 3-cleft with serrate divisions; flowers dull-white, mostly solitary; sepals awned; seeds minutely reticulate.--Rare. (Nat. from Eu.)

2. ERDIUM, L'Her. STORKSBILL.

The 5 shorter stamens sterile or wanting. Styles in fruit twisting spirally, bearded inside. Otherwise as Geranium. (Name from ???d???, _a heron_.)

E. CICUTaRIUM, L'Her. Annual, hairy; stems low, spreading; stipules acute; leaves pinnate, the leaflets sessile, 1--2-pinnatifid; peduncles several-flowered.--N. Y., Penn., etc.; scarce. (Adv. from Eu.)

3. FL'RKEA, Willd. FALSE MERMAID.

Sepals 3. Petals 3, shorter than the calyx, oblong. Stamens 6. Ovaries 3, opposite the sepals, united only at the base; the style rising in the centre; stigmas 3. Fruit of 3 (or 1--2) roughish fleshy achenes. Seed anatropous, erect, filled by the large embryo with its hemispherical fleshy cotyledons.--A small and inconspicuous annual, with minute solitary flowers on axillary peduncles. (Named after _Floerke_, a German botanist.)

1. F. proserpinacodes, Willd. Leaflets 3--5, lanceolate, sometimes 2--3-cleft.--Marshes and river-banks, W. New Eng. to Penn., Ky., Wisc., and westward. April--June. Taste slightly pungent.