588 



GAL 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



GAL 



small ; style none ; stigma none. Pericarp : none ; calix 

 unchanged. Seeds : in the hermaphrodites, solitary, angular, 

 crowned with the five-leaved calicle ; leaflets lanceolate, erect, 

 awned : in the females, none. Receptacle: convex, (Jussieu 

 says, flat,) chaffy ; chaffs bristle-shaped. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Receptacle: chaffy. Seed: crowned with the five- 

 leaved calicle. Calix : of two rows of scales, almost equal. 

 The only known species is, 



1. Galardia Alternifolia. Stem from a foot to eighteen 

 inches high, straight, branched, slightly hispid, tinged with 

 purple ; root-leaves oblong, spatulata, with large notches, a 

 little rough to the touch, spread on the ground; stem-leaves 

 alternate, embracing, oblong, having a few blunt indentures 

 along the edge, bright green, and slightly villose, the upper 

 ones are almost entire; peduncles simple, naked, long, ter- 

 minating, bearing one handsome flower, purple and yellow, 

 two inches in diameter. This fine plant has been cultivated 

 for some years in the royal gardens at Paris : the seeds were 

 brought from Louisiana. It is an annual, flowering in July 

 and August, and continuing to the end of October. 



Galax ; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Monogynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth ten-leaved; 

 outer leaflets alternate, shorter, lanceolate, reflex ; inner 

 longer, lanceolate, acute, upright. Corolla : one-petalled, 

 salver-shaped; tube cylindric, length of the calix; border 

 flat, five-cleft ; segments obtuse. Stamina: filament* short, 

 antherte roundish, converging with the throat of the co- 

 rolla. Pistil: germen ovate, villose; style filiform, semi- 

 bifid, length of the stamina; stigmas roundish. Pericarp: 

 capsule ovate, one-celled, two-valved, coloured, elastic. 

 Seeds: two, large, convex, ovate, callous, as it were single, 

 two-lobed. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: ten-leaved. 

 Corolla : salver-shaped. Capsule : one-celled, two-valved, 

 elastic. The only known species of this genus is, 



1. Galax Aphylhi. This plant is a native of Virginia, as 

 yet very rare, and little known in Europe ; leaves all radical ; 

 stem naked, simple, probably woody ; flowers in a loose ter- 

 minating spike. 



Galaxia ; a genus of the class Monadelphia, order Trian- 

 dria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: spathe one-valved, 

 membranaceous, converging. Corolla : one-petalled, superior ; 

 tube filiform, long, erect, a little widened at top; border 

 six-parted ; parts obovate, obtuse, spreading, the three outer 

 ones having a nectareous pit. Stamina : filamenta three, 

 united in a cylinder, antherce ovate. Pistil: germen in- 

 ferior, obtusely triangular, smooth; style filiform, a little 

 longer than the stamina; stigmas three, filiform, many- 

 parted, spreading. Pericarp: capsule oblong-subcylindric, 

 three-grooved, three-celled, three-valved. Seeds : very many, 

 globular, very small. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Spathe 

 one-valved. Corolla : one-petalled, six-cleft ; tube capillary. 

 Stigma: many-parted. The species are, 



1. Galaxia Ovata. Leaves ovate; root filiform, fixed to 

 an ovate, netted, coinose bulb, there are usually several of 

 these conglomerate ; stem none ; root-leaves heaped, sheath- 

 ing, ovate, obtuse, slightly veined longitudinally, flat, smooth, 

 the edge somewhat cartilaginous; the calix is a very thin 

 sheath ; the corolla is variegated with yellow, purple, and 

 violet; the capsule is smooth. It flowers from June to Sep- 

 tember. Native of the Cape of Good Hope. 



2. Galaxia Graminea. Leaves linear-filiform ; root as in 

 the preceding species ; flowers radical, among the sheathing 

 .eaves, in bundles, sessile, with a long capillary tube, the 

 length of the leaves ; corolla yellow, farying with a yellow 

 tube, and a violet-coloured border. Native of the Cape. 



Galega; a genus of the class Diadelpbia, order Decandria. 



GKVERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one-leafed, tubu- 

 lar, short, half five-cleft ; teeth subulate, nearly equal. 

 Corolla: papilionaceous; banner large, ovate, reflex at the 

 end and on the sides ; wings oblong, having an appendage, 

 and being almost the length of the banner ; keel oblong, 

 compressed, straight towards the end, gibbous below, sharp 

 above. Stamina: filamenta diadelphous, (simple and nine- 

 cleft;) antherse oblong. Pistil: germen slender, oblong; 

 style slender, shorter than the germen, ascending ; stigma a 

 very small dot at the end. Pericarp: legume very long, 

 compressed, acuminate, scored with oblong streaks between 

 the seeds. Seeds : several, oblong, kidney-shaped. ESSEN- 

 TIAL CHARACTER. Calix: with subulate teeth, nearly 

 equal ; legume with oblique streaks between the seeds.- 

 The species are, 



1. Galega Officinalis ; Officinal Galega, or Goat's Rue 

 Legumes stiff, upright ; leaflets lanceolate, streaked, naked ; 

 root perennial, composed of many strong fibres, which are 

 frequently jointed; stems channelled, hollow, from two to 

 three, and even to five feet high; leaves unequally pinnate, 

 composed of five to seven or more pairs of smooth entire 

 leaflets ; flowers terminating, in loose spikes, they are of a pale 

 blue colour, appear in June, and are succeeded by taper pods 

 about an inch and half in length, and ripening towards the end 

 of August. There is a variety with white, and another with 

 variegated flowers. Goat's Rue is esteemed as a cordial, 

 sudorific, and alexipharmic. Mr. Boyle celebrated its virtues 

 in pestilential and malignant diseases. The leaves, gathered 

 just as the plant is going into flower, and dried, with the addi- 

 tion of boiling water, make an infusion, which being drank 

 plentifully, excites sweating, and is good in fevers. Gerarde 

 calls it Italian Fitch, and Goat's Rue. Native of Spain, Italy, 

 Hungary, and Africa. This plant is propagated by seeds, 

 sown either in spring or autumn in an open situation. When 

 the plants come up, keep them clean from weeds, till they are 

 strong enough to remove, then take them carefully up, and 

 plant them in a spot well dug and cleared, in rows a foot and 

 a half distant, one foot asunder in the rows, watering them 

 till they have taken new root. Hoc the ground frequently 

 between the plants, and dig it in the spring between the rows. 

 If the stalks be cut down every year before the seeds ara 

 formed, the roots will continue the longer, especially on a 

 light dry soil : or if the seeds be permitted to scatter, the 

 plants will come up without any further care. 



2. Galega Cinerea. Legumes stifF, spreading; racemes 

 opposite to the leaves ; pedicels solitary ; leaflets villose 

 underneath ; stipules lanceolate. This is a small herbaceous 

 plant, somewhat of an ash colour, seldom growing above 

 eleven or twelve inches in height. It is common among the 

 bushes in all the savannas about Kingston in Jamaica. 



3. Galega Littoralis. Legumes in racemes, the whole vil- 

 lose-tomentose ; leaves unequally pinnate, the midrib rillose, 

 grooved, two or three inches long ; leaflets about six pairs, 

 oblong, attenuated at the base, blunt, quite entire; flower* 

 flesh-coloured, inodorous. Native of Cartha^ena, in Ame- 

 rica, and found every where between the tropics. 



4. Galega Virginiana. Legumes back-sickled, compressed, 

 villose-spikcd ; calices woolly; leaflets oval-oblong, acumi- 

 nate; root perennial ; stem annual, three feet high ; leaflet* 

 generally seven or nine. The whole plant is covered with a 

 silvery down ; flowers red, in spikes at the ends of the 

 branches. Native of North America. Though this plant i 

 tolerably hardy, it is nevertheless difficult to preserve it in 

 gardens, for the seeds rarely ripen in England, and tb ( 

 plants are often destroyed in winter by the frost. The only 

 method, says Mr. Milk'r, by which I have been able to keep 



