GRA 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



GRA 



643 



declining at bottom ; peduncles longer than the leaves, fili- 

 form, solitary, axillary, one-flowered; corolla blue, inclined 

 to bell-shape, a little flatted, five-cleft; the divisions nearly 

 equal, the three upper ovate, spreading, the two lower con- 

 verging, somewhat bent down. This small creeping plant 

 sticks very close to the ground, and casts a few slender fibres 

 from every joint as it creeps; the whole plant seldom exceeds 

 seven or eight inches in length, but it generally grows in beds, 

 and spreads thick upon the ground, throwing out a few sim- 

 ple side-branches, which make it very remarkable, and give it 

 a pretty appearance when it flowers, which is from July to 

 September. Native of low moist soils in the East and West 

 Indies, and South Sea Islands. 



3. Gratiola Repens ; Creeping Gratiola. Leaves ovate ; 

 stem creeping; calix five-leaved ; style bifid. Native of Ja- 

 maica. 



4. Gratiola Rotundifolia; Round-leaved Gratiola. Leaves 

 ovate, three-nerved. Stems a finger high, quadrangular, 

 smooth, creeping at the base; peduncles axillary, solitary, 

 naked, alternate, one-flowered, longer than the leaves ; sta- 

 mina two, capsules compressed, roundish. Native of sandy 

 grounds in Malabar. 



5. Gratiola Hyssopoides; Hyssop-leaved Gratiola. Leaves 

 ovate-lanceolate, subserrate, much shorter than the inter- 

 nodes. Stem filiform, upright, smooth, a foot high; pedun- 

 cles axillary, alternate, solitary, one-flowered, several times 

 longer than the leaves; calix very small; corolla much larger 

 than the leaves, ringent. Native of the rice-grounds of Tran- 

 quebar, in the East Indies. See the first species. 



6. Gratiola Virginica. Leaves lanceolate, obtuse, some- 

 what toothed. Stem procumbent, varying much in size; pe- 

 duncles axillary, one-flowered. The corolla is white, and the 

 flowers are not followed by seeds in England. It grows na- 

 turally in moist places in North America, where it rises more 

 than a foot high, but with us does not exceed eight inches : 

 it is also a native of Malabar. 



7. Gratiola Peruviana. Flowers subsessile. This plant 

 has grown nine inches high, with a weak stalk, in our climate ; 

 leaves opposite, serrate, three-quarters of an inch long, and 

 half an inch broad ; the flowers come out single on each side 

 of the stalk, they are white, and much smaller than the com- 

 mon sort. Mr. Miller received the seeds from Carthagena, 

 in New Spain, where it was found in places where there had 

 been standing waters, which were then dried up. 



8. Gratiola Lobelioides. Stem almost naked, stipuled ; 

 leaves oblong, quite entire ; panicle dichotomous ; capsules 

 subglobular. Root numerous, in bundles, short, simple; stalk 

 simple, upright, round, having an obscure broad furrow on 

 each side, slightly streaked, smooth, with five stipuled joints, 

 a foot high; panicle terminating, lax, thin, with peduncles 

 mostly simple, alternate, remote, round, smooth, or some- 

 times with a few scattered hairs, slender, nearly equal, with 

 bractes at the base, reddish green ; flowers inferior ; corolla 

 tube streaked with a darker colour; border bell-shaped, the 

 upper segment scarcely ascending, obcordate, flattish, shorter 

 than the others, blue, the side ones straight, obliquely retuse 

 at the ends, a little longer than the upper one, and of the 

 same colour, the lower one spreading, obcordate, flattish, 

 adorned with a white heart-shaped spot, and a few blue dots, 

 and twice as large as the others ; throat naked, a little flatted ; 

 germen superior, ovate, smooth, with a small furrow on each 

 side. Native of rice-fields in Tranquebar. 



9. Gratiola Grandiflora; Great-flowered Gratiola. Stems 

 decumbent; leaves ovate, serrate; peduncles opposite; cap- 

 sules subulate. Stems angular, bifid, smooth ; flowers large 

 in proportion to the other parts ; capsules long. Native of 



Tranquebar, Madras, Siam, and Malacca, where it is found 

 in moist fat soils. 



10. Gratiola Veronicifolia; Veronica-leaved Gratiola. Stem 

 creeping ; leaves ovate-lanceolate, sharply serrate ; flowers 

 terminating, opposite. Stems angular, diffused, procumbent; 

 flowers small, deep blue, bracted and peduncled; capsule five- 

 cleft, linear. Native of Tranquebar, Madras, &c. 



11. Gratiola Oppositifolia. Stem ascending; leaves lance- 

 olate-serrate ; peduncles opposite to the leaves. Stems sel- 

 dom upright, quadrangular, streaked. Native of moist 

 places and rice-grounds in Tranquebar. 



12. Gratiola Stricta. Leaves ovate; spike long, termi- 

 nating. Stem suffruticose; flowers white, dotted with red, 

 sessile, in a simple erect spike; calix none, except a triple 

 bracte under the flower. Native of Cochin-china. 



13. Gratiola Linifolia. Leaves linear, entire; flower-stalks 

 axillary, the length of the leaves. Native of Portugal. 



14. Gratiola Latifolia. Smooth: leaves ovate, obtuse, ob- 

 scurely crenate, or entire ; flowers sessile. Found near Port 

 Jackson and Van Diemen's Land. 



15. Gratiola Pubescens. Clothed with glandular hairs: 

 leaves lanceolate, toothed; flowers nearly sessile. Found in 

 New Holland. 



16. Gratiola Pedunculata. Clothed with powdery down : 

 leaves lanceolate, toothed in their fore part, scarcely longer 

 than the flower-stalk. Native of Port Jackson, New South 

 Wales. 



Gravel. There are different sorts of gravel : that upon 

 Blackheath is said to be the best in England; it consists of 

 smooth even pebbles, which, when mixed with a due quan- 

 tity of loam, will bind very close, and preserve a beautiful 

 appearance longer than any other sort. Some recommend a 

 soil of iron-mould gravel, or gravel with a little binding loam 

 amongst it, than which nothing they say binds better, when 

 it is dry, but in wet weather it is very liable to stick to the 

 shoes, and will never appear handsome. Sometimes loam is 

 mixed with gravel that is over sandy or sharp, which should 

 be well blended together, and suffered to lie in heaps, after 

 which it will bind like a rock. There are many kinds of 

 gravel which do not bind, and thereby cause a continual 

 trouble of rolling, to little or no purpose; as for such, if the 

 gravel be loose or sandy, you should take one load of strong 

 loam to two or three of gravel, and so cast them well toge- 

 ther, and turn this mixture over three or four times, that 

 they may be properly blended together : when this is pro- 

 perly done, it will bind well, and not stick to the feet in wet 

 weather. There are many different opinions about the 

 choice of gravel ; some are for having it as white as possible, 

 and in order to make the walks more so, they roll them well 

 with stone rollers, which are often hewn by the masons, that 

 they may add a whiteness to the wallks; but this renders it 

 very troublesome to the eyes, by reflecting the rays of light 

 so strongly, and on that account should be avoided. Such 

 gravel as will lie smooth, and reflect the least, should be pre- 

 ferred. Some fall into the error of screening the gravel too 

 fine ; it should first be cast into a round heap, and will after- 

 wards be the better for only having the great stones raked 

 off. Others are apt to lay gravel-walks too round, but this 

 is also an error, which makes the walks appear narrow ; one 

 inch rise is enough in the crown for a walk of five feet wide, 

 and the same proportion will be sufficient for every other 

 width. For the depth of gravel-walks a foot thickness will 

 be quite sufficient, but then there should always be a depth 

 of rubbish laid under the gravel, especially if the ground be 

 wet, for then too much care cannot be taken to fill the 

 bottom of the walks with large stones, flints, brick, rubbish, 



