G O R 



G O S 



pubescent : the leaves as in the first, but with 

 the lower surface very softly tomentose : the 

 flowers axillary, solitary, sessile towards the tops 

 of the branches : the leaflets of the outer calyx 

 subovatc, acuminate at the tip, tomentose, and 

 of a white colour ; also those of the inner. It 

 is a native of South Carolina, flowering in Sep- 

 tember. 



The third is a beautiful tree-like shrub, which 

 rises with an erect trunk to the height of about 

 twenty feet, with alternate branches : the leaves 

 are oblong, narrowed towards the base, serrate, 

 alternate, sessile or subsessile : flowers towards 

 "the extremity of the branches, solitary, sitting 

 close in the bosom of the leaves, often five inches 

 in diameter when fully expanded : the petals snow- 

 white, the lower one hollow, formed like a cap 

 or helmet, entirely including the other four, until 

 the moment of expansion; its exterior surface 

 is covered with a short silky hair : the borders of 

 the petals are curled or plaited. It is a native of 

 South Carolina. 



The flowers have the fragrance of the China 

 Orange. 



Culture. — These plants, from their beingaqua- 

 tics, are not raised or preserved without great dif- 

 ficulty, ft is effected by planting cuttings of the 

 young shoots, or laying them down in the spring 

 season in pots of moist earth, plunging them in 

 the hot-bed, and supplying them freely with wa- 

 ter. They are vary ornamental stove plants. 



GORTERIA, a genus containing plants of 

 the herbaceous shrubby sort for the green-house. 



It belongs to the class and order Syngenesia 

 Polygamia Frustranea, and ranks in the natural 

 order of Composites Capitatee. 



The characters are : that the calyx is common 

 one-leafed, imbricate with spiny scales, the in- 

 ner ones gradually longer, straight, bristle-shaped, 

 ridged : the corolla compound radiate : corollets 

 hermaphrodite, several in the disk : female fewer 

 in the ray : proper of the hermaphrodite funnel- 

 form, five-cleft ; of the female ligulate, lanceo- 

 late : the stamina in the hermaphrodites have five 

 short filaments : anther cylindric, tubular : the 

 pistillumof the hermaphrodite is a villose germ: 

 style filiform, the length of the corollet ; stigma 

 bifid : of the females, germ obsolete : style none : 

 stigma none : the pericarpium an unchanged, 

 deciduous calyx : the seeds in the hermaphro- 

 dites, solitary, roundish; down simple (woolly) : 

 in the females, none : receptacle naked (not 

 so in all the species). 



The species cultivated are : 1 . G. rigens, 

 Great-flowered Gorteria; 2. G. fruticosa, 

 Shrubby Gorteria. 



The first is a low spreading plant, with woody 

 stalks six or eight inches lonff, trailing: on the 



ground, having two or three side-branches, -each 

 terminating in a close head of leaves, which arc 

 narrow, green on their upper, but silvery on 

 their under surface, and cut into three or liv. 

 segments at the end. The peduncles which arise 

 from these heads are six inches long, naked, ami 

 support one large .orange-coloured flower: each 

 floret in the ray has a dark mark towards the 

 base, with white intermixed. 



Martyn observes, that the green-house can 

 scarcely boast a more showy plant: the flowers, 

 when expanded by the heat of the sun (and it 

 is only when the sun shines on them that they 

 are fully expanded), exhibit an unrivalled brilli- 

 ancy of appearance. It flowers in May and 

 June. 



The second species has a slender stem, three 

 feet high, sending out a few weak branches, 

 which are tomentose and white: the leaves are, 

 like thoseof Privet, alternate, sharp, pctioled, hav- 

 ing six or seven serratures bristly at the end : the 

 flowers terminating, subsolitary, peduncled, the 

 peduncle longer than the flower, of a golden 

 yellow colour. It flowers in August and Sep- 

 tember. 



Culture. — The first sort may be increased by 

 planting cuttings of the young shoots in the 

 summer months, in pots filled with light earth, 

 placing them in the hot-bed under bell- or hand- 

 glasses. When they are become well rooted, 

 they must be carefully removed, and placed in. 

 other separate pots, and have the management 

 of other tender plants. 



The second sort is raised by planting the small 

 heads from the ends of the branches, in the 

 same manner and at the i-anie season, screening 

 them well from the sun. When perfectly rooted, 

 they should be removed with care into separate 

 pots, and be afterwards well secured against the 

 cold and damp of the winter season, by being 

 placed in a dry green-house, as much air as pos- 

 sible being admitted in mild dry weather. 



These are all plants that afford variety and effect 

 among other flowering plants in green-house 

 collections. 



GOSSYPIUM, a genus consisting of herba- 

 ceous annual and shrubby perennial plants. 



It belongs to the class and order Monudclphia 

 Polyandria, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Col inn it if era?'. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a double 

 perianthium : outer one-leafed, trifid, flat, larger: 

 inner one-leafed, bluntly etnarginate in five rows, 

 cup-form : the corolla has five petals, obcordate, 

 fiat, spreading, fastened by their base to the 

 tube of the stamens : the stamina have nume- 

 rous filaments, uniting at bottom into a tube, 

 separate at and below the tip, lax, inserted into 

 3 G 2 



