Leaves simple or compound; sepals 4-5; petals mostly 5; stamens 5, 10, or 15, more or less united at base; carpels 3-5, prolonged into styles.
Crane’s Bill. Texas Geranium (_Geranium texanum_) is very much like the Carolina geranium. The small white flowers are inconspicuous, but the seed capsules with their long beaks resembling the crane’s bill are very noticeable. The scientific name is from the Greek meaning “crane.” The Texas geranium differs from the Carolina geranium in having pitted seed and fewer flowers. The cultivated geraniums belong to the Pelargonium group.
Stork’s Bill. Pine Needle (_Erodium texanum_) has fruits similar to the Texas geranium, but the beaks are much longer, 1-2 in. long. The short-stalked flowers are quite showy while they are open, but they close in the heat of the day. The wine-red petals are marked with delicate purple veins. The low spreading branches are 2-12 in. long. This plant grows on rocky limestone hillsides from Texas to California and blooms in April and May.
Pin-Clover. Filaree. Alfilaria (_Erodium cicutarium_) has finely-divided, lacy leaves and small pink flowers. It is used in some places as a forage crop.
Leaves simple; sepals usually 5, free or united at base; petals usually 5, soon falling; stamens 5, united at base; styles 3-5, thread-like; capsules 3-5-celled.
Blue Prairie Flax (_Linum lewisii_) has lovely sky-blue flowers, 1-1½ in. across. The petals are veined with purple and drop off in the heat of the day or upon being disturbed. This flax is a slender, branched plant with a perennial root. It is very abundant on the prairies in the vicinity of Ft. Worth and Dallas, blooming there in May, and ranges to Arizona and Southern Canada. It may grow 1-2 ft. high, but in Texas it is often only about 8 in. high.
This flax is very much like the European perennial flax (_Linum perenne_) and the cultivated flax (_Linum usitatissimum_), from which flax fiber is obtained. “Linum” is the ancient Latin name for the flax plants. Many of them are showy plants of horticultural importance; for even though the flowers last only a few hours, the plants bear a profusion of blooms. They are valuable for Texas gardens, as they do best in sunny places. Flaxes may often be identified by the dropping off of the petals.