HERB ROBERT; RED ROBIN; RED SHANKS; DRAGON'S BLOOD
(Geranium Robertianum) Geranium family
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 i8 in. high. Leaves: Strongly
scented, opposite, thin, of 3 divisions, much subdivided and
cleft. Fruit: Capsular, elastic, the beak 1 in. long,
awn-pointed.
Preferreed 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.
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