_Geranium Robertianum_
_Flowers_--Purplish rose, about 1/2 in. across, borne chiefly in pairs
on slender peduncles. Five sepals and petals; stamens 10; pistil with 5
styles. _Stem_: Weak, slender, much branched, forked, and spreading,
slightly hairy, 6 to 18 in. high. _Leaves_: Strongly scented, opposite,
thin, of 3 divisions, much subdivided and cleft. _Fruit_: Capsular,
elastic, the beak 1 in. long, awn-pointed.
_Preferred Habitat_--Rocky, moist woods and shady roadsides.
_Flowering Season_--May-October.
_Distribution_--Nova Scotia to Pennsylvania, and westward to Missouri.
Who was the Robert for whom this his “holy herb” was named? Many suppose
that he was St. Robert, a Benedictine monk, to whom the twenty-ninth of
April--the day the plant comes into flower in Europe--is dedicated.
Others assert that Robert Duke of Normandy, for whom the “Ortus
Sanitatis,” a standard medical guide for some hundred of years, was
written, is the man honored; and since there is now no way of deciding
the mooted question, we may take our choice.
Only when the stems are young are they green; later the plant well earns
the name of Red Shanks, and when its leaves show crimson stains, of
Dragon’s Blood.
At any time the herb gives forth a disagreeable odor, but especially
when its leaves and stem have been crushed until they emit a resinous
secretion once an alleged cure for the plague.