ABSTRACT
A number of species are native to Europe and there are records of geraniums in old herbals since the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. A few have been used in herbal remedies in the past but may not have been cultivated. Species such as Geranium robertianum are common wild plants in many parts of the country. More recently, species have been introduced into cultivation such as G. maculatum from North America which was used as a medicinal plant in the eighteenth century. Other species were introduced from further afield mainly for their ornamental features from countries around the Mediterranean, the Himalayas and the Far East and even towards the end of the twentieth century, new species were still being introduced.
