650 



G U I 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



GUN 



which are ovate and entire; the principal midrib of the leaf 

 is armed with short crooked single thorns, placed irregu- 

 larly; the stalks are also armed with thorns, which are larger. 

 The stalks at first grow erect, but afterwards twine about the 

 neighbouring trees and shrubs; the flowers are in long axil- 

 lary spikes; legume broad, thick, three inches long, and two 

 broad, closely armed with slender spines, opening with two 

 valves, each enclosing two hard seeds, about the size of 

 children's marbles, of a yellowish colour. Native of the East 

 and West Indies. This, together with the second, third, and 

 fourth'species, will not live through the winter in England, un- 

 less placed in a warm stove, and the pots plunged into the tan- 

 bed. They are propagated by seeds ; but those of the two 

 first sorts are so hard, that unless they are soaked two or 

 three days in water before they are put into the ground, or 

 placed under the pots in the tan-bed to soften their covers, 

 they will remain years in the ground without vegetating: 

 when the plants come up, they will be fit to transplant in a 

 short time; then they should be each transplanted into a 

 small pot, filled with light fresh earth, and plunged into a 

 moderate hot-bed of tanners' bark, shading them till they 

 have taken fresh root. They must afterwards be treated as 

 other tender exotic plants, giving them a large share of air in 

 warm weather, and but little water; and when the plants have 

 advanced to be too tall to remain in the frames, they must be 

 removed into the bark-stove, and plunged into the' hot-bed, 

 where they will make great progress, provided they have not 

 too much water, especially during the winter season. 



2. Guilandina Bonducella; Gray Bonduc. Prickly: pin- 

 nas oblong-ovate, with double prickles on the leaflets. This 

 differs from the first species in having much smaller leaves, 

 set closer together; and below each pair of leaflets are two 

 short, stiff, crooked spines, which are opposite ; the flowers 

 are of a deeper yellow, and the seeds are ash-coloured. The 

 seeds are said to be useful in intermittents when powdered ; 

 and both these, and those of the preceding species, are 

 taken by the negroes in venereal cases. The whole plant is 

 weakly, and spreads a great way about the roots, or rises 

 among the neighbouring bushes wherever it finds a due 

 support. The stalk and branches are very full of thorn* 

 that arch backwards. The seeds are gray, and commonly 

 used instead of marbles by boys in the sugar colonies. In 

 I'izypt, the nuts of both these sorts are used by the women, 

 strung in necklaces, and hung about their children by way 

 of amulets, to guard them from sorcery. They are often 

 cast ashore on the north-west coasts of Ireland and Scotland, 

 and are called by the inhabitants of the latter Molucca Beans. 

 This tree makes a good fence. It is a native of both Indies, 

 Chiua, and New Zealand. 



3. Guilandina Nuga. Stem unarmed; the primary petiole 

 of the leaves with double prickles underneath ; branches 

 thorny; leaves thick, solid, smooth, opposite; flowers yellow; 

 legumes smooth. A weak trailing shrub, with a hard wood, 

 which distils gum when wounded. Native of Amboyna and 

 Malabar, in swamps by the sides of rivers. 



4. Guilandina Moringa; Smooth Bonduc. Unarmed: 

 leaves subbipinnate ; lower leaflets ternate. This tree has a 

 thick root, of a softer substance than usual : the trunk is 

 of a middling size, from twelve to twenty feet in height, 

 smooth, with an ash-coloured bark ; branches rather erect. 

 The root, when young, is scraped, and used by the inhabit- 

 ants of Egypt as horse-radish is in Europe, having much the 

 same sharp taste; as have also the seeds. Native of the 

 Last Indies; cultivated in Jamaica and Ey;ypt. This species 

 requires the same treatment as those before mentioned, but 

 the seeds will grow without being steeped in water, and the 



plants are with difficulty shifted from one pot to another, 

 for their roots are large, fleshy, and have but few fibres; so 

 that unless great care be taken, all the earth will fall away 

 from them, which often causes their stalks lodecay utmost ti. 

 the root, and sometimes occasions the loss of the plants. 



6. Guilandina Dioica; Hardy Bonduc. Unarmed: leaves 

 bipinnate ut the base and tip, simply pinnate; stem erect, 

 thirty feet high or more, dividing into many branches, co- 

 vered with a very smooth bluish ash-coloured bark. Native 

 of Canada. This sort will live abroad, and is never hurt by 

 frost. It is propagated by cutting oflf some of the horizontal 

 roots, m by suckers. It requires a light, but not a very moist 

 soil. 



6. Guilandina Gemina. Prickly: leaves pinnate; calix 

 five-leaved; fruit in pairs; stem shrubby, large, subrrect, 

 wilh many climbing branches, on which are many recurved, 

 scattered prickles; flowers yellow, in compound, loose, termi- 

 nating racemes; seeds two or three, roundish, shining, ash- 

 coloured, very hard, containing a roundish oily kernel like an 

 almond. Native of Cochin-china. 



Guinea Grass. See Panicum Maximum. 



Guinea-Hen Weed. See Petiveria. 



Guinea Pepper. See Capsicum. 



Guinea Wheat, See Zea. 



Gum Elastic. See Jatropha. 



Gum Elemi Tree. See Amyris. 



Gum Lac. See Croton Lacciferum. 



Gtim Succory. See Ckondrilla. 



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

 mia Segregata. GF.NEUIC CHARACTER. Calix: common 

 scarcely any, except the leaves surrounding the compound 

 receptacle. Corolla : compound tubular, uniform ; corol- 

 lules hermaphrodite, five, equal; proper one-petalled, club- 

 shaped ; border bellying, five-cleft, upright. Stamina : fila- 

 menta five, capillary, very short; antherse cylindric, tubu- 

 lar, long-. Pistil: germen ovate, immersed in the receptacle, 

 crowned with very small scales, inferior; style filiform, longer 

 than the corolla; stigmas two, revolute. Pericarp: none; 

 but the seeds are totally immersed and hid in the receptacle. 

 Seeds: solitary, roundish, acuminate, crowned with an obscure 

 rim; the side-ones are abortive. Receptacle: common conic, 

 covered on every side with partial receptacles, divided by 

 three cusped chaffs; partial obtusely conic, quadrangular, 

 truncate, with five little pits, one of which is in the centre, 

 the others in the circumference, for the insertion of the rive 

 floscules. Observe. One central flower hermaphrodite; tour 

 marginal male. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix : scarcely 

 any, five-flowered. Corolla: tubular, male and hermaph- 

 rodite. Receptacle : chaffy. Down : none. The only 



known species is, 



1. Gundelia Tournefortii. Root perennial, running deep 

 into the ground ; stalks seldom more than a foot an.! a half 

 high ; the under leaves are long, narrow, and serrate, the 

 teeth ending in a spine; the other leaves are broader, irn - 

 gularly flashed to the midrib, and armed at the points with 

 sharp prickles. U is a i.alky plant, and has the habit of 

 thistle. The flowers appear in June, and the seeds ripen in 

 August. It is propagated by seed, which should be sown 

 in the beginning of March, in a warm dry border of t're*h 

 but lean earth, in the place where the plants are designed to 

 remain. When the plants come up, tin -y must be carefully 

 cleaned from weeds; as they grow large they should be thin- 

 ned, leaving the plants which are designed to remain about 

 two feet asunder, that they may have room to spread. After 

 this there is no other culture required, but to keep them 

 clear from weeds. In two years they will produce their 



