alis linearibus. _L'Herit. Monogr de Geran. n.
97._

GERANIUM _acetosum_ calycibus monophyllis, foliis glabris obovatis
carnosis crenatis, caule fruticoso laxo. _Linn. Syst. Vegetab. ed.
14._ _Murr. p. 613. Sp. Pl. p. 947._

GERANIUM Africanum frutescens, folio crasso et glauco acetosae sapore.
_Comm. prael. 51. t. 1._

[Illustration: No 103]

Mons. L'HERITIER, the celebrated French Botanist, who in the
number, elegance, and accuracy of his engravings, appears ambitious of
excelling all his contemporaries, in a work now executing on the family
of _Geranium_, has thought it necessary to divide that numerous genus
into three, viz. _Erodium_, _Pelargonium_, and _Geranium_.

The _Erodium_ includes those which LINNAEUS (who noticing the
great difference in their appearance, had made three divisions of them)
describes with five fertile stamina, and calls Myrrhina; the
_Pelargonium_ those with seven fertile stamina, his _Africana_; the
_Geranium_, those with ten fertile stamina, his _Batrachia_.

They are continued under the class _Monadelphia_, in which they now form
three different orders, according to the number of their stamina, viz.
_Pentandria_, _Heptandria_, and _Decandria_. If the principles of the
Linnaean system had been strictly adhered to, they should perhaps have
been separated into different classes; for though the _Pelargonium_ is
Monadelphous, the _Geranium_ is not so; in consequence of this
alteration, the _Geranium peltatum_ and _radula_, figured in a former
part of this work, must now be called _Pelargonium peltatum_, and
_radula_, and the _Geranium Reichardi_ be an _Erodium_.

The leaves of this plant have somewhat the taste of sorrel, whence its
name, it flowers during most of the summer, and is readily propagated by
cuttings. MILLER mentions a variety of it with scarlet flowers.

It is a native of the Cape, and known to have been cultivated in Chelsea
Garden, in the year 1724.

[104]

LYSIMACHIA BULBIFERA. BULB-BEARING LOOSESTRIFE.

_Class and Order._

PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA.

_Generic Character._

_Corolla_ rotata. _Capsula_ globosa, mucronata, 10-valvis.

_Specific Character and Synonyms._

LYSIMACHIA _stricta_ racemis terminalibus, petalis lanceolatis patulis,
foliis lanceolatis sessilibus. _Hort. Kew. p. 199._

[Illustration: No 104]

In the spring of the year 1781, I received roots of this plant from Mr.
ROBERT SQUIBB, then at New-York, which pro