HENDERSON'S HANDBOOK OF PLANTS. 



GOO 



green, 

 flower 



i, producing long pendulous racemes of 

 rers rich in color and often grotesque in ap- 

 pearance. They can be successfully grown in 

 whut is termed a "cool Orchid house, or a 

 green-house. 



Ooodia. Named after P. Good, a collector of 

 plants in Australia for the Kew Gardens. Linn. 

 Monaddph'm-Decandria. Nat. Ord. Fabacea*. 



Handsome evergreen shrubs from New Hol- 

 land. They are all erect, symmetrical plants, 

 with beautiful foliage. The flowers are pure 

 yellow, produced in racemes like those of the 

 Laburnum, but smaller. They require green- 

 house treatment. Propagated by seeds or cut- 

 tings. 



G-oodyera. Named after J. Goodyer, an early 

 British botanist. Lynn. Gynandria-Monandria. 

 Nat. Ord. Orchidacece. 



A genus of terrestrial Orchids, with small white 

 flowers like those of Spiranthes, but the spike is 

 not spiral. It consists of very few species, all 

 from the northern hemisphere, and mostly from 

 high latitudes or mountain ranges. G. discolor 

 has dark green velvety leaves with a silver stripe 

 down the middle, and is a very handsome plant. 

 Requires a warm green-house. There are seve- 

 ral hardy species, with pure white and green- 

 ish white flowers, common to our woods from 

 New York to Wisconsin. 



Gooseberry. See Ribus. 



Gooseberry Shrub. See Pereskia. 



Goose-foot. See Chenopodiitm. 



Goose-grass. See Galium. 



Gordonia. Named by Dr. Garden in honor of 

 his old master, Dr. James Gordon, of Aberdeen. 

 Linn. Monadelphia-Polyandria. Nat. Ord. Tern- 

 stromiacece. 



A genus of half-hardy deciduous shrubs or 

 low trees, common in the Southern States. G. 

 lasianthus is popularly known as Loblolly Bay, 

 and is common in swamps near the coast from 

 Virginia southward. 



Gossypium. Cotton Tree. From goz, or gothro, 

 an Arabic word signifying a soft substance. 

 Linn. MtModelphia-Polyandria. Nat. Ord. Mal- 



. 



There are several distinct species of cotton 

 plants, and a great many varieties. Some are 

 herbaceous annuals, others shrubs three or four 

 feet in height, and others attain a height of 

 from fifteen to twenty feet. The stems are 

 smooth or hairy, leaves either three or five 

 lobed, fine shaped, cordate, blunt, or lanceolate. 

 The flowers are large, with yellow or white 

 petals, and a purplish center, and are suc- 

 ceeded by pointed pods, which, on coming to 

 maturity, burst, and display a profusion of white 

 or yellowish down that forms the cotton of com- 

 merce. In the center of this down are contained 

 the seeds, varying in number from ten to thirty 

 according to the species, of n dark brown color 

 and of a very oily nature. The early history of 

 the Cotton plant is involved in obscurity, nor 

 can it be ascertained in what region of the elobe 

 it was first cultivated and applied to purposes 

 ^n d m /^ tlC T*' Herodotu8 - who wrote about 

 450 B. C., and who had traveled into Egypt and 

 was familiar with its productions, does not de- 

 scribe the Cotton plant as existing there but 

 gives some obscure hints of such a plant being in 

 use m India. The inhabitants of India, savs he 

 possess a kind of plant which, instead of fruit' 

 produces wool of a finer and better quality than 

 that of sheep; of this the natives make their 

 clothes. When describing the corselet of Arua- 



GOS 



sis, he accordingly designated Cotton under the 

 name of tree-wool, a combination of terms which 

 the Germans use for the same substance at the 

 present day. His particularly detailing the 

 linen garments of the Egyptians, and their mode 

 of weaving linen cloth, as differing from that of 

 the Greeks, while he omits all mention of the 

 manufacture of cotton garments, would lead us 

 to suppose that the Cotton plant was unknown 

 to the Egyptians; and that, if they possessed 

 Cotton cloth at all, it was imported from India. 

 Pliny, however, in his work on Natural History, 

 describes the Cotton plant as a small shrub grow- 

 ing in Upper Egypt, called by some xylon, and 

 by others gossypium, the seeds of which are 

 surrounded by a soft downy substance of a daz- 

 zling whiteness, and which is manufactured into 

 cloth much esteemed by the Egyptian priests. 

 This was five centuries after the time in which 

 Herodotus wrote, and during this period the 

 plant may have become more common. From 

 Pliny's account, it would not appear that Cotton 

 was much used at Rome, even in the first cen- 

 tury of the Christian era, nor for many centuries 

 afterward was its use introduced into Europe. 

 But in the ninth century the Arabians, who were 

 then in possession of Egypt, appear to have 

 used Cotton cloth for their ordinary garments ; 

 for one of the first remarks of two Arabian 

 travelers, who went to China at that period, 

 was, that the Chinese, instead of weaving Cot- 

 ton, as they and their countrymen did, chiefly 

 used silk stuffs. It is probable, then, that the 

 Cotton plant first came from Persia to Egypt , 

 whence it spread into Asia Minor, and latterly 

 to the islands of the Archipelago. In the time 

 of Tournefort, who visited these islands, Milo 

 was celebrated for its Cotton. The Cotton now 

 raised in small quantities in the Cyclades pos- 

 sesses that dazzling whiteness which Pliny de- 

 scribes as the property of the Egyptian Cotton. 

 The Cotton plant has been grown from an early 

 period, in the West Indies, in the Southern 

 States, and in South America. Whether any of 

 the species are natives of this Continent, it is 

 difficult to say; the probability is, however, that 

 it was introduced, soon after the discovery of 

 the West Indies, into these settlements, from 

 Smyrna. It should be stated, however, that 

 Cotton cloth has been found in the tombs of the 

 Incas of Peru. The extensive cultivation of 

 Cotton in this country is of a recent date. In 

 1784, 8 bags were sent from this country to 

 England, which were seized, on the ground that 

 so much Cotton could not be produced in the 

 United States. Since the Revolution, the in- 

 crease of production has been steady and rapid. 

 Of the species under cultivation, G. Barbadense 

 is the one grown in the United States, and of 

 this there are two varieties, the Upland Cotton, 

 or short staple, and the Sea Island Cotton, or 

 long staple. This species is a native of India, 

 whence it was transplanted into the West Indies, 

 and from there into thQ United States. G. her- 

 baceum, the herbaceous Cotton plant, is the spe- 

 cies cultivated throughout Europe and Asia. 

 It is an annual plant, growing to the height of 

 about twenty inches. The Tree Cotton, G. 

 arboreum, is a perennial species, growing from 

 fifteen to twenty feet high, and is considerably 

 grown in the African Colonies, but does not 

 yield a very fine staple. A very coarse growing 

 species, G. bombyx-ceita, is common in the West 

 Indies, said to be indigenous there. The trunk 

 of this species is sufficiently large to hollow out 



