632 



GOR 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



GOR 



covered with a short silky hair; the borders of the petals are 

 curled or plaited. Fruit a large round, dry, woody pericarp, 

 opening at each end by five alternate fissures, containing ten 

 cells, each filled with dry woody cuneiform seeds. The 

 flowers have the fragrance of a China orange. Discovered 

 on the banks of the Altamaha river in Georgia. 



Oorteria ; a genus of the class Syngeriesia, order Polyga- 

 mia Frustranea. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : common 

 one-leafed, imbricate with spiny scales ; the inner ones gra- 

 dually longer, straight, bristle-shaped, rigid. Corolla : com- 

 pound, radiate; corollets hermaphrodite, several in the disk; 

 female fewer in the ray; proper of the hermaphrodite funnel- 

 form, five-cleft; of the female ligulate, lanceolate. Stamina: 

 in the hermaphrodites, filamenta five, short ; anther* cylin- 

 ilric, tubular. Pistil: of the hermaphrodites, germen villose ; 

 style filiform, the length of the corollet; stigma bifid : of the 

 females, germen obsolete ; style none ; stigma none. Peri- 

 carp : calix unchanged, deciduous. Seeds: in the herma- 

 phrodites solitary, roundish ; down simple, woolly ; in tlje 

 females none. Receptacle: naked, yet not so in every spe- 

 cies. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix : imbricate with spiny 

 scales. Corolla : of the ray ligulate. Down : woolly. Re- 

 ceptacle: naked. Most of these plants may be increased by 

 cuttings, planted in a shady border during any of the sum- 

 mer months ; afterwards they may be treated like other plants 

 from the Cape. See Arctotis. -The species are, 



1. Gorteria Personata ; Annual Gorteria. Leaves lanceo- 

 late, entire, and sinuate; stem upright; flowers ped uncled. 

 Stems a span high, little branched, roundish, hairy. The 

 receptacle is bristly, rough in the middle, excavated in the 

 circumference ; florets in the centre male, in the disk andro- 

 gynous, and of these not more than five fertile ; in the ray, 

 female or neuter, and barren ; seeds woolly, but without 

 down or feather. When the flower comes to maturity, the 

 aperture of the calix being very narrow, the seeds do not 

 fall out, but the whole drops together. Hence, when one of 

 them germinates, the radical not only perforates the bottom 

 of the calix, but is so firmly united to it, that the young 

 plant bears the maternal calix, permanent above the root. 

 There is no other instance of this economy, except in Neu- 

 rada. It flowers in July and August, and being annual, can 

 only be raised from seeds. Native of the Cape. 



2. Gorteria Rigens ; Great-flowered Gorteria. Leaves 

 lanceolate, pinnatifid ; stem depressed ; scapes one-flowered. 

 This is a low spreading plant, with woody stalks, six or eight 

 inches long, trailing on the ground, having two or three side- 

 branches, each terminating in a close head of leaves, which 

 are narrow, green on their upper, but silvery on their under 

 surface, and cut into three or five segments at the end. The 

 peduncles arise from these heads, are six inches long, naked, 

 and support one large orange-coloured flower ; each floret in 

 the ray has a dark mark towards the base, with white inter- 

 mixed. The green-house can scarcely boast a more showy 

 plant: the flowers will only expand in the heat of the sun, 

 but, when expanded, exhibit an unrivalled brilliancy of ap- 

 pearance. It flowers in May and June, and was brought 

 from Holland. 



3. Gorteria Echinata ; Prickly Gorteria. Leaves oblong, 

 sinuate-gashed, with small thorns ; stems ascending ; recep- 

 tacles chaffy. Stem a foot high, angular, red, commonly 

 smooth, but sometimes lanuginous here and there. Flowers 

 terminating, solitary; outer scales of the calix short, pal- 

 mate, spiuoua ; inner longer, lanceolate, ending in a thorn, 

 and armed with spinules at the base on each side ; corollets 

 of the ray wholly barren ; the petal four-cleft at the end, an 

 inch long, spreading, yellow, but near the tip underneath of 



a dirty purple colour. It flowers in July, is annual, and can 

 only be propagated by seeds. Native of the Cape. 



4. Gorteria Squarrosa ; Cobweb Gorteria. Leaves lanceo- 

 late, decurrent, adnate, ciliate-spinulous; flowers sessile. 

 Stem proliferous, villose ; branches from the base of the 

 stalk ; calix terminating, squarrose, with leaflets bowed 

 back, like those on the stem ; ray of the flowers yellow. It 

 flowers from June to August. 



5. Gorteria Setosa ; Bristly Gorteria. Leaves lanceolate, 

 decurrent, adnate, ciliate-spinous ; flowers terminating. Stem 

 five feet high, upright, very much branched; branches alter- 

 nate ; colour of the flowers yellow, the ray violet-coloured 

 underneath. It differs from the preceding species, in the stem 

 being neither villose nor proliferous ; the leaves not imbricate, 

 downwards, but broader, shorter, with yellow bristles stand- 

 ing out on the edge; the flowers peduncled, not sessile; and 

 finally, in the colour of the ray beneath. Native of the Ca]>e. 



6. Gorteria Ciliaris ; Ciliate Gorteria. Leaves imbricate, 

 ciliate, in two rows; the outer cilias, and the terminating 

 spine, reflex. The leaves are imbricated, and pressed to the 

 stalks, so as to cover them in an extraordinary manner. It 

 flowers in May and June. Native of the Cape. 



7. Gorteria Fruticosa; Shrubby Gorteria. Leaves lanceo- 

 late, entire, tooth-spinous, tomentose beneath ; stem shrub- 

 by, slender, three feet high, sending out a few weak branches, 

 which are tomentose and white ; flowers terminating, sub- 

 solitary, peduncled, the peduncle longer than the flower; 

 corolla yellow, radiate. The ray has many flowers, and it 

 twice the length of the calix ; the disk is convex ; the seg- 

 ments of the florets linear; seeds villose; crown of the seeds 

 star-form, with many leaflets. It flowers in August and 

 September. Native of the Cape. This species is increased 

 by planting the small heads at the ends of the branches in 

 June and July. They must be closely covered with either 

 bell or hand glasses, and carefully screened from the sun. 

 When they are well rooted, they should be put each into a 

 small pot, and, in winter, placed in an airy glass-case, secure . 

 from damp. The same treatment will be proper for any other 

 sorts, and indeed for most shrubby plants that will not take 

 from cuttings in the ordinary way. 



8. Gorteria Herbacea ; Herbaceous Gorteria. Stem-leaves 

 clasping, ciliate; root-leaves unarmed, villose underneath. 

 Stem scarcely a foot high, herbaceous, smooth, very little 

 branched ; root-leaves broad-lanceolate, petiolate, quite en- 

 tire, bluntish ; stem-leaves alternate, cordate, acute, the up- 

 per ones gradually shorter ; flowers terminating, sessile ; . 

 calix like that of an artichoke, but scarcely bigger than a ' 

 plum. Found by Thunberg at the Cape. 



9. Gorteria Hispida; Hairy Gorteria. Leaves oblong, 

 ciliate-spinous, upright, smooth ; calices entire, ending in a 

 thorn. It is a large shrubby plant. Native of the Gape. 



10. Gorteria Spinosa ; Thorny Gorteria. Leaves oblong, 

 sessile, tooth-spinous, spreading, smooth ; calices ciliate- 

 spinous ; flowers upright. Native of the Cape. 



1 1 . Gorteria Cernua ; Drooping Gorteria. Leaves ob- 

 long, clasping, tooth-spinous, spreading, smooth ; calices 

 ciliate-serrate ; flowers drooping. The base of the calix is 

 singular, with ripe seeds, and resembles the fruit of Medi- 

 cago. It flowers in May. Native of the Cape. 



\'i. Gorteria Uniflora ; Oiie-flowered Gorteria. Leaves 

 lanceolate, undivided, tomentose underneath ; stems one- 

 flowered, depressed, a span high, simple, herbaceous, leafy 

 on all sides ; ray of the flower yellow. It has the appear- 

 ance of the second species, and is suspected to be a variety 

 of it Native of the Cape. 



ID. Gorteria Darbata; Bearded Gorteria. Leaves cllip- 



