Geranium can be:

• The genus Geranium of flowering plants, usually called the cranesbills
• Any of the garden plants called geraniums, which are members of the related genus Pelargonium.

This confusing situation arises because the garden geraniums were formerly classified in genus Geranium. The two genera are closely related, and both belong to the family Geraniaceae.

Cranesbill

The cranesbills make up the genus Geranium of 422 species of annual, biennial, and perennial plants found throughout the temperate regions of the world and the mountains of the tropics, but mostly in the eastern part of the Mediterranean.

Cranesbills
Flower and leaf of Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Geraniales Family: Geraniaceae Genus: Geranium L., 1753
Species
See list

Confusingly, “geranium” is also the common name of members of the genus Pelargonium, which were formerly classified in the cranesbill genus.

One can make the distinction between the two by looking at the flowers : Geranium has symmetrical flowers, while Pelargonium has irregular or maculate petals.

Other former members of the genus are now classified in genus Erodium, including the plants known as filarees in North America.

The name “cranesbill” derives from the appearance of the seed-heads, which have the same shape as the bill of a Crane. The genus name is derived from the Greek word geranos, meaning ’crane’.

The long, palmately cleft leaves are broadly circular in form. Their rose, pink to blue or white flowers have 5 petals.

These attractive flowers will grow in any soil as long as it is not waterlogged.

Propagation is by semi-ripe cuttings in summer, by seed or by division in autumn or spring.

Pelargonium

Pelargonium is a genus of flowering plants that includes about 200 species of perennial, succulent, and shrub plants, commonly but incorrectly known and even sold as geraniums. Confusingly, Geranium is the correct botanical name of the separate genus that contains the related Cranesbills. Both genera are in the Family Geraniaceae. Linnaeus originally included all the species in one genus, Geranium, but they were later separated into two genera by Charles L’Héritier in 1789. Gardeners sometimes refer to the members of Genus Pelargonium as “pelargoniums” in order to avoid the confusion, but the older common name is still in regular use.

Geraniums
Common pink garden geranium
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Geraniales Family: Geraniaceae Genus: Pelargonium L’Hér.
Species
About 200: Pelargonium radens Pelargonium scabrum Pelargonium triste et al.

Most species of geranium (Pelargonium) are subtropical or tropical and do not tolerate more than very light frosts. Geraniums are extremely popular garden plants, and hundreds of cultivars have been developed from about 20 of the species.

Geranium leaves are usually alternate, and palmately lobed or pinnate, often on long stacks, and sometimes with light or dark patterns. The erect stems bear five-petaled flowers in umbel-like clusters called pseudoumbels. The shapes of the flowers have been bred to a variety ranging star-shaped to funnel-shaped, and colors include white, pink, red, orange-red, fuchsia and an almost black variety which is quite rare.

Horticultural pelargoniums (as opposed to botanical, the wild ’species’) fall into six major groups, with zonals subdivided further:

• Angel
• Ivy-leaved = hanging
• Regal (or Royal) = French = Martha Washington = Violet
• Shrubby-leaved
• Unique
• Zonal - erect and bushy
• • Cactus-flowered
  • Deacon (mostly dwarfs, cfr infra)
  • Double-flowered
  • Fancy-leaved
  • Formosum hybrid
  • Rosebud
  • (?) Tulip-flowered
  • Single-flowered
  • Stellar
  • Straight Zonals
  • • Americana
    • Ecclipse
  • It is also usual to classify small Zonals alternatively by size or odorous excellence :
  • • Dwarfs (small)
    • Miniatures (even smaller)
    • Parfum-leaved

  The first species of Pelargonium known to be cultivated was Pelargonium triste, a native of South Africa. It was probably brought to the botanical garden in Leiden before 1600 on ships that stopped at the Cape of Good Hope. In 1631, the English gardener John Tradescant bought seeds from Rene Morin in Paris and introduced the plant to England. The name Pelargonium was introduced by Johannes Burman in 1738.

  This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article “Geranium”, the Wikipedia article “Cranesbill”, and the Wikipedia article “Pelargonium”.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 27th, 2005 at 11:53 am and is filed under Aromatherapy and Essential Oils. Both comments and pings are currently closed.