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Old 28-01-2006, 04:35 PM posted to rec.gardens
Stephen Henning
 
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Default geranium/Pelargonium

Kay Lancaster wrote:

Zonal pelargoniums ("geraniums" in US garden speak)


The family Geraniaceae includes:

Erodium
Geranium
Monsonia (formerly Sarcocaulon)
Pelargonium

Erodium is a small genus that includes geraniums of Europe and South
America and Australia, especially mountainous regions.

Geranium is a genus of plants having a beaklike torus or receptacle,
around which the seed capsules are arranged, and membranous projections,
or stipules, at the joints. Most of the species have showy flowers and a
pungent odor. Sometimes called crane's-bill.

Monsonia is a genus from South Africa with actinomorphic flowers and are
succulents usually found in areas with extreme drought.

Pelargonium is a large genus of plants of the order {Geraniace[ae]},
differing from Geranium in having a spurred calyx and an irregular
corolla. Most are from South Africa.

Many plants classified in the genus Geranium by the earlier botanists
are now separated from it under the name Pelargonium, which includes all
the commonly cultivated "geraniums" from South Africa.

Hence, geranium (with a small g) refers to all plants that were formerly
in the former grouping of the genus Geranium including Geranium and
Pelargonium. Pelargoniums are a specific group of geraniums which
excludes the crane's-bills.

Native American Geraniums include:

G. arboreum
G. atropurpureum
G. bicknellii
G. caespitosum
G. californicum
G. carolinianum
G. cuneatum
G. erianthum
G. hanaense
G. humile
G. kauaiense
G. lentum
G. maculatum
G. multiflorum
G. oreganum
G. richardsonii
G. robertianum
G. texanum
G. viscosissimum
G. wislizeni

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