Geraniaceae
A natural order of herbs, shrubs, or sub-shrubs, rarely arborescent. Flowers often showy; sepals five, umbricate, one of them sometimes spurred; petals five, unguiculate, imbricate or valvate in bud. Leaves opposite or alternate, usually palmately veined and lobed, often stipulate. There are about twenty genera and 750 species, dispersed through the temperate and subtropical regions of the whole world, but especially abounding in South Africa. The species possess astringent and aromatic properties; many of them are fragrant, while others have a musky odour. The members of the tribe Oxalideoe abound in oxalic acid, and some have edible tubers. Well-known genera are: Erodium, Geranium, Pelargonium, and Tropaeolum.