Geraniaceæ

Geraniaceæ, an order of thalamifloral dicotyledons, herbs or undershrubs of temperate countries, particularly abundant at the Cape, and of which the leading genera Geranium, Pelargonium, and Erodium yield a great number of garden and greenhouse plants (see GERANIUM). In a wider sense the order is extended to include the closely related Lints (Linaceæ) and Sorrels (Oxalidaceæ), together with the curiously specialised Balsaminaceæ, and sometimes also the Tropæolaceæ (see TROPEOLUM), of which, however, the affinity is more doubtful.