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Manual of the New Zealand Flora.
1. Geranium, Linn
1. Geranium, Linn.
Annual or perennial herbs, rarely woody at the base. Leaves opposite or alternate, usually palmately lobed or cut, stipulate. Peduncles axillary, bracteate, 1–2-flowered. Flowers regular. Sepals 5. Petals 5, hypogynous, imbricate, alternating with 5 glands. Stamens 10, usually all perfect, rarely 5 without anthers, free or connate at the base. Ovary 5-lobed and 5-celled, with a long beak terminated by 5 stigmas; ovules 2 in each cell, superposed. Capsule splitting from below upwards into 5 carpels with long styles, which roll up elastically; seeds 1 in each carpel.
A well-known genus, comprising over 100 species, widely distributed over the whole world, but most abundant in the Northern Hemisphere. Two of the New Zealand species are endemic; 1 extends to Australia and temperate South America; the remaining 2 are found in most temperate regions.
Stems suberect. Leaves much divided. Peduncles 2-flowered. Sepals awned. Seeds coarsely reticulated 1. G. dissectum. Stems prostrate. Peduncles 1-flowered. Sepals hardly awned. Seeds smooth or very finely reticulated 2. G. microphyllum Stemless or nearly so. Rootstock stout. Peduncles 1-flowered. Seeds quite smooth 3. G. sessiliflorum. Stems prostrate, and with the leaves silky-hoary. Peduncles 1-flowered. Flowers large 4. G. Traversii. Softly pilose. Stems diffuse or prostrate. Peduncles 2-flowered. Sepals mucronate. Carpels wrinkled. Seeds smooth 5. G. molle.
| 1. | G. dissectum, Linn. Cent. i. 21, var. australe, Benth. Fl. Austral. i. 296.—A branching decumbent or suberect annual or perennial herb, sometimes with a stout swollen rootstock. Stem 1–2 ft. long, often covered with soft spreading or retrorse hairs, rarely almost glabrous. Leaves on long slender petioles; blade 1–2 in. diam. or more, cut to the base or nearly so into 5–7 segments which are again deeply and irregularly divided into few or many usually narrow lobes; lobes obtuse or acute. Peduncles slender, 2-flowered. Flowers very variable in size. Sepals ovate or ovate-lanceolate, usually with an awn of varying length, pilose. Petals as long or longer than the sepals, slightly notched at the apex. Carpels hairy, even. Seeds deeply and coarsely reticulated.—G. dissectum var. carolinianum, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 39; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 36; Kirk, Students' Fl. 79.
Var. a, pilosum, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 36.—Suberect or spreading, clothed with spreading hairs. Petals often large.—G. pilosum, Forst. Prodr. n. 531; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 593. G. patagonicum, Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. ii. 252. Var. b, patulum, Hook. f. l.c.—Suberect or spreading, clothed with spreading and retrorse hairs. Petals usually small.—G. patulum, Forst. Prodr. n. 530. G. retrorsum, L'Herit, ex D.C. Prodr. i. 644; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 594. Var. c, glabratum, Hook. f. l.c.—Stout, procumbent, almost glabrous. Leaves 3–5-lobed; lobes much broader and less cut. page 89Kermadec Islands, North and South Islands, Chatham Islands: Extends as far south as the Bluff, but most plentiful in the north. Var. australe occurs in Australia, Tasmania, and South America; the typical form is abundant in the Northern Hemisphere. |
| 2. | G. microphyllum, Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. i. 8, t. 5.—A slender much-branched prostrate and straggling perennial 6–18 in. long, more or less pubescent with appressed silky white hairs, which are sometimes retrorse on the peduncles and pedicels. Leaves on long slender petioles; blade ½–1 in. diam., orbicular in outline, cut to the middle or below into 3–7 broad or narrow obcuneate lobes, which are more or less deeply toothed at the tips; stipules small. Peduncles 1-flowered, rarely 2-flowered; flowers usually white. Sepals ovate-lanceolate, barely awned. Petals longer than the sepals, entire or slightly retuse. Carpels smooth and even, pilose. Seeds, longitudinally striated, reticulations long and narrow, not conspicuous.—Handb. N.Z. Fl. 36; Kirk, Students' Fl. 80. G. potentilloides, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 40 (non L'Herit).
North and South Islands, Stewart Island, Auckland Islands: Common from the North Cape southwards, ascending to 3000 ft. Endemic. This differs from all the forms of G. dissectum in the more slender habit, less deeply lobed and smaller leaves, 1-flowered peduncles, paler flowers, and in the much smaller and narrower reticulations on the seeds. |
| 3. | G. sessiliflorum, Cav. Diss. 198, t. 77, f. 2.—A depressed almost stemless perennial, more or less covered with spreading or retrorse silky hairs. Rootstock stout and woody, often branched above. Leaves mostly radical, numerous, crowded, on long slender petioles; blade ¼–¾ in. diam., orbicular, deeply divided into 3–5 toothed or lobed segments; stipules broad, membranous. Flowering-stems very short or quite undeveloped. Peduncles usually 1-flowered, short, seldom equalling the leaves. Flowers small. Sepals oblong, shortly awned, silky. Petals white, exceeding the sepals. Carpels even, minutely hairy. Seeds smooth, not reticulated.—Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 36; Benth. Fl. Austral. i. 297; T. Kirk, Students' Fl. 80. G. brevicaule, Hook. in Journ. Bot. i. (1834) 252; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 40.
North and South Islands, Stewart Island: Not uncommon from the Lower Waikato southwards, ascending to 3000 ft. Also in Victoria, Tasmania, and temperate South America. Easily distinguished from all the other species by the small size, stemless habit, and even seeds. |
| 4. | G. Traversii, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 726.—A perennial herb, more or less hoary in all its parts with short and dense silvery white hairs; stems decumbent or prostrate, 1–2 ft. long. Radical leaves on long slender petioles 4–9 in. long; blade 1–3 in. diam., orbicular in outline, 5–7-lobed to the middle; lobes cuneate, toothed or lobed at the tips, silky-hoary on both surfaces. Cauline leaves much smaller and on much shorter petioles. Stipules broadly page 90ovate, cuspidate. Peduncles 1–4 in. long, 1-flowered, with 2 acuminate bracts about the middle. Flowers large, ¾–1 in. diam., white or pink. Sepals broadly ovate, cuspidate. Petals broad-obovate, entire, much longer than the sepals. Carpels silky-pilose. Seeds very minutely reticulated.—T. Kirk, Students' Fl. 80; Buch. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. vii. t. 13, f. 2.
Chatham Islands: Not uncommon in open places, H. H. Travers! J. D. Enys! November–December. By far the finest of the New Zealand species. Well characterized by the silvery hoary pubescence, 1-flowered peduncles, large flowers, and minutely reticulated seeds. |
| 5. | G. molle, Linn. Sp. 682.—A diffuse or procumbent much-branched annual or perennial, more or less softly pilose in all its parts; stems 6–12 in. long. Radical leaves numerous, on long slender petioles; blade orbicular, 1–2 in. diam., 5–9-lobed to below the middle; lobes obovate or cuneate, irregularly lobed or crenate. Cauline leaves smaller, on shorter petioles, with fewer but deeper divisions. Peduncles shorter than the leaves, 2-flowered. Flowers small, purplish. Sepals broadly ovate, mucronate. Petals deeply notched, barely exceeding the sepals. Carpels usually distinctly marked with transverse wrinkles. Seeds smooth, not reticulated. —Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 40; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 37; T. Kirk, Students' Fl. 81.
Kermadec Islands, North and South Islands, Stewart Island, Chatham Islands.—Abundant throughout, ascending to over 2500 ft. in the South Island. Common in Europe, north Africa, and western Asia; and naturalised in other countries. There can be little doubt that this is introduced, but as it has had a place given to it in previous works on New Zealand plants, and as it is now found in all soils and situations, and would certainly be considered indigenous by a stranger unacquainted with its history, it appears best to retain it in the Flora. |