G A H 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



G A I, 



587 



GsERTNERA ; (so called, in memory of Joseph Geertner, 

 M.D. F.R.S. author of a most excellent work on the fruits 

 and seeds of plants,) a genus of the class Decandria, order 

 Monogynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Cater : perianth one- 

 leafed, five-parted, permanent ; divisions oblong, obtuse, 

 spreading, nearly equal. Corolla : petals five, roundish, 

 large, flat, spreading, torn and ciliate on the edge, nearly 

 equal, with very short claws. Stamina: filamenta ten, fili- 

 form, very slightly coalescent at the base ; nine slender, 

 somewhat erect, shorter than the corolla; the tenth thicker, 

 the length of the petal, bent in at top. Anthera? parallele- 

 piped ; nine equal, small ; the tenth on the longer filamentum 

 a little larger. Pistil: germen superior, three-toothed, small ; 

 style filiform, lateral, bent in, the length of the greater sta- 

 mina, permanent ; stigma sharp. Pericarp: capsule woody, 

 having four wings, one-celled ; wings lanceolate, widening to- 

 wards the tip, obtuse; one very large, upright; two smaller, 

 patulous ; the fourth very small, ascending. Seed: single, 

 roundish. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: five-parted, 

 the leaflets having on the outside a single marginal gland. 

 Corolla: five-petalled, somewhat unequal, toothletted, fur- 

 nished with very short claws. Seed-vessel : nearly globose, 

 with four wings. The only known species is, 



1. Geertnera Racentosa. Four of the petals are white, and 

 the fifth yellow; the seed-vessel is nearly globular, or inversely 

 parabolical, leathery, tliln, of a yellowish bay colour, marked 

 on the side with the rudiment of the style ; on the top it has 

 a small triangular crest, and on the edge it has three very 

 long leathery wings of an ovate-lanceolate shape, the middle 

 one larger than the others; seed kidney-form, globular, 

 wrinkled, gibbous, ferruginous-reddish. It is a large climb- 

 ing woody shrub, flowering in the wet and cold season. It 

 is cultivated all over the coast of Coromandel, on account of 

 the beauty and fragrance of its flowers. Native of the East 

 Indies, in the Circar mountains. 



Gahnia ; a genus of the class Hexandria, order Monogy- 

 nia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : glume one-valved, 

 ovate-lanceolate, convolute, two or five-flowered; (according 

 to Linneus, two-valved, one-flowered ; valves lanceolate, chan- 

 nelled, acuminate, the outer larger, broader.) Corolla : glume 

 two-valved, shorter than the calix ; valves ovate-lanceolate, 

 acuminate, concave, the outer a little longer; nectary two- 

 valved, hyaline, involving the filamenta ; outer valve larger, 

 ovate-concave, three-toothed at the tip, half the length of 

 the corolline glume; inner ovate, entire, very small. Sta- 

 mina: filamenta six, capillary, short, after flowering elon- 

 gated; antherae linear, acuminate. Pistil: permen oblong; 

 style filiform, erect, longer than the calix, bifid ; stigmas in 

 each division of the calix two, capillary, curved back. Pe- 

 ricarp: none. Seed: according to Forster,- single, oblong ; 

 according to Linneus, subangular, smooth, surrounded by 

 the elongated filamenta, so as to be double the length of the 

 corolline glume, permanent. Observe. Forster asserts, that 

 the flowers are panicled ; calicine glumes in the lowest pani- 

 cles frequently none ; stamina in the flowers seven and eight, 

 but the uppermost flowers are always six-stamined. ESSEN- 

 TIAL CHARACTER. Glume : two-valved, irregular. Nectary: 

 two-valved, involving the filamenta. Stigma : dichotomous. 

 The species are, 



1. Gahnia Procera. Panicles spiked, several elongated; 

 florets six-stamined ; culm half a fathom in height, round, 

 smooth, upright, reclining at top, the thickness of a pigeon's 

 quill ; leaves sword-shaped, longer than the culm, narrow, 

 bristle-shaped at the tip, reclining-, concave at the base, 

 sheathing, rough at the edge with rows of minute spinules, 

 alternate; flowers purple, in involucres half an inch in 



length ; seeds brown ; number of the stamina in the lower 

 flowers seven or eight, but the upper ones have always six : 

 the lower panicles are often destitute of involucres, and 

 therefore bear naked flowers. Native of New Zealand. 



2. Gahnia Schcenoides. Culms flextiose ; panicles com- 

 pound, spiked, rigid, subsolitary. Native of Otaheite. 



Galanga, Galangale. See Kampferia. 



Galanthui ; a genus of the class Hexandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: spathe oblong, 

 obtuse, compressed, gaping on the flat side, withering. Co- 

 rolla : petals three, oblong, obtuse, concave, lax, patulous, 

 equal; nectary cylindric, tliree-leaved, half the length of the 

 petals; leaflets petal-shaped, parallel, emarginate, obtuse. 

 Stamina: filamenta capillary, very short; antherae oblong, 

 acuminate, ending in a bristle, convergent. Pistil: germen 

 globular, inferior; style filiform, longer than the stamina; 

 stigma simple. Pericarp : capsule oval-globular, obtusely 

 three-sided, three-celled, three-valved. Seeds: several, glo- 

 bular. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Petals: three, concave. 

 Nectary : of three small emarginate petals. Stiymas : simple. 

 The only known species is, 



1. Galanthus Nivalis ; Snowdrop. The bulb of the Snow- 

 drop is coated and truncate ; leaves yellowish at the base, 

 callous at the tips ; scape half a foot or a span in height, 

 ancipital, striated, involved at the base in a pair of leaves ; 

 sheath whitish, truncate, involving the leaves and scape. The 

 peduncle usually comes out from the left cell of the spathe, is 

 weak, and wrinkled below the germen ; flowers solitary, pen- 

 dulous ; petals milk-white. There are two varieties, one with 

 semi-double, and the other with double flowers. Native of 

 Austria, Switzerland, Silesia, and England, where it is found 

 in meadows; common in orchards, where it is probably a 

 relick of cultivation : it is seen at the foot of Malvern hills, 

 where no traces of buildings or gardens are to be found ; also 

 near Cirencester; but it is very doubtful whether this, and 

 several other bulbous plants, were originally indigenous. It 

 flowers usually in February; and hence is in some places 

 called the Fair Maids of February. These flowers are highly 

 valued for their early appearance in the spring, for they usually 

 flower when the ground is covered with snow : the single sort 

 comes out first, and though the flowers are but small, yet 

 when they are in bunches they make a very pretty appear- 

 ance: therefore these roots should not be planted single, as 

 is sometimes practised by way of edgings to borders, for when 

 so disposed, they produce very little effect. When twenty 

 roots or more grow in a close bunch, the flowers have a fine 

 appearance. As they thrive well under trees or hedges, they 

 are very proper to plant on the sides of the wood-walks, and 

 in wilderness quarters, where, if they be suffered to remain 

 undisturbed, the roots will multiply exceedingly. The roots 

 may be taken up when the leaves decay, and kept out of the 

 ground till the end of August; but they must not be removed 

 oftener than every third year. 



Galardia ; a genus of the class Syngenesia, order Polyga- 

 mia-Frustranea. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: common, 

 of two rows of scales ; scales linear, flat, acute, about 

 twelve in each row ; the outer longer, reflex, the inner erect. 

 Corolla : compound radiate ; corollets hermaphrodite, nu 

 merous in the convex disk : females about twelve, much 

 longer, spreading in the ray. Proper in the hermaphrodites, 

 tubular funnel-form, with a five-toothed border; in the 

 females ligulate, wider outwards, half three-cleft. Stamina : 

 to the hermaphrodites, filamenta five, capillary, very short; 

 antherse cylindric, tubular. Pistil: to the hermaphrodites, 

 germen turbinate-angular ; style filiform, the length of the 

 corollet; stigmas two, spreading. Females, gerraen very 



