| Classification |
| Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order Type: Eudicots-Unplaced Rosids
Order: Geraniales
Family: Geraniaceae
Family Common Name: Geranium Family
Genera: Geranium, Pelargonium |
Defining Features: Some of
the smaller genera have been grouped into their own families by some botanists.
The family generally has aromatic, glandular hairs and has stems with swollen,
jointed nodes.
Defining Morphology: Floral
Features: The inflorescences are determinate, terminal, axillary in cymose
and mostly umbellate. Flowers are 5-merous, often bisexual, and actinomorphic
or a zygomorphic. Stamens with filaments united at the base. Style slender
and beaked. Ovaries are superior with axile placentation. Fruit and Seed
Features: Dicotyledon. Fruit a capsule or elastic dehiscent schizocarps,
which curl at the beak. Vegetative Features: Mostly are herbs to sub-shrubs
with jointed stem and stipule. Leaves are simple, alternate or opposite
with palmately lobed, dissecated margin.
Distribution: Widespread in
the subtropics and temperate regions of both hemispheres and reaching to
the arctic and Antarctic regions.
Economic Use: As an extremely
important cultivated annual species for gardens and outdoor pots. The family
also contains many species with aromatic oils used in cosmetics, perfume
and as an insect repellant. Many of the aromatic species have been cultivated
as 'scented geraniums' and may smell like apple, mint, lemon, etc.
Number of Genera Globally: 7
Number of Species Globally:
750
