Page:The Botanical Magazine, Volume 3 (1790).djvu/63

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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 Linnean 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.