GOOSEFOOT. 



GOSSYPIUM. 



roots of the plant are not made wet by this I 

 operation which promotes the growth of the j 

 bushes and helps their bearing properties. | 

 Tobacco liquor is also often found a good ap- 

 plication for the destruction of caterpillars, and 

 also the solution of whale oil soap, as recom- 

 mended for the destruction of bark-lice and 

 aphiilians. This last remedy is also said to be 

 completely effectual in removing the mould, 

 rust, or mildew to which the gooseberry-bush is 

 so very subject, an affection which would seem 

 to be capable of propagation with the plants. 

 Mr. S. R. Gummere, of Burlington, New Jersey, 

 an intelligent botanist, and successful horti- 

 culturist, states that the russet mould to which 

 the gooseberry-bush is subject, may be pre- 

 vented by carefully removing the buds from 

 that portion of the cutting which, in planting, 

 is inserted into the ground. 



Seventeen or eighteen species of gooseberry, 

 says Dr. Darlington, are enumerated as natives 

 of the United States. Of these the Missouri 

 currant (Kibes aureum) is much cultivated, and 

 greatly admired for the beauty and spring fra- 

 grance of its flowers. 



GOOSEFOOT (Chenapodium). An extensive 

 genus of plants, of which 13 species are enu- 

 merated by Sir J. E. Smith, as natives of Britain, 

 viz. 1. Mercury goosefoot (C. bonus Henru ,,<], 

 growing in waste ground and by road sides fre- 

 quent, and occasionally in pastures. The root is 

 branchy and fleshy ; the herb dark green, nearly 

 smooth ; stem a foot high, term inating in a com- 

 pound crowded cluster, or spike, of numerous 

 green flowers; their stalks sometimes unctuous 

 and mealy. This, our only perennial chenopo- 

 dium, may be eaten, when young, like spinach, 

 and is cultivated for the table in some parts of 

 Lincolnshire. It is insipid and mucilaginous, 

 rather mawkish, and soon becomes tough and 

 fibrous. Neither goats nor sheep relish this 

 plant, which is also refused by cattle and hogs. 

 2. The upright goosefoot (C. urfa'rum), and 3., 

 The red goosefoot, also occur commonly on 

 waste ground; the former sometimes on dung- 

 hills, and the latter in low, muddy situations. 

 In exposed situations the whole herb of C. ru- 

 brum assumes a red colour. This species and 

 its allies are said to be poisonous to swim* ; 



4. The many spiked goosefoot (C. botryoidcx) ; 



5. The nettle-leaved goosefoot, 6. The maple- 

 leaved goosefoot, call for no observation. The 

 whole plant of the two last species is fetid; 



7. White goosefoot. or common wild orache 

 (C. album), is found in cultivated as well as 

 waste ground everywhere. The herb is mealy, 

 with a silvery unctuous pubescence, which, 

 by age, becomes dry and chaffy. The young 

 plant is reported to be eatable when boiled, 

 and is known by the name of fat-hen in some 

 parts of Norfolk. It is eaten by cattle, sheep, 

 and hogs, which last devour it with avidity; 



8. The fig-leaved goosefoot (C.firifolium'), flou- j 

 rishes most on dunghills, especially about 

 London; 9. The oak-leaved goosefoot (C. 

 glcmntm), varies in height from 2 inches to 2 | 

 feet, and grows for the most part on a sandy ! 

 soil; 10. Standing goosefoot (C. olidiim^ This | 

 species is found very commonly among sand 

 or rubbish near the sea. The whole herb is 

 of a dull grayish-green, covered with a greasy 



69 



mealiness, which, when touched, exhales a 

 strong, permanent, nauseous odour, like stale 

 salt fish. It is, nevertheless, eaten by cattle, 

 horses, goats, and sheep, but refused by swine ; 

 11. The round-leaved, or all-seed goosefoot, or 

 upright blite (C. polyspermum) ; 12. The sharp 

 entire-leaved goosefoot (C. acutifolium),a.re two 

 other species, which are less common. The 

 former is a curious plant, whose numerous 

 black shining seeds might perhaps be advan- 

 tageously employed in fattening poultry ; 13. 

 The sea goosefoot, small glasswort, or sea 

 blite (C. rnaritimtim) : this species abounds on 

 the sea-shore, and grows also in sandy as well 

 as muddy places, flowering in July and August. 

 Stem thick and juicy, leaves smooth, about an 

 inch long, salt to the taste, of a light bright 

 green. Dr. Withering mentions this as an ex- 

 cellent pot-herb. In Siberia and Astracan the 

 inhabitants obtain from this plant their potash, 

 which probably partakes more of the nature 

 of soda. The alkaline salt contained in this 

 herb renders it serviceable in making glass, 

 though it is inferior to some kinds of salsola 

 found in the south of Europe. 



Ten or twelve species of goosefoot have 

 been found in America, six of which Dr. Dar- 

 lington has detected in Pennsylvania. Most, 

 if not all, are supposed to be foreigners. They 

 are a homely family, generally regarded as 

 weeds. Those best known are the C. album 

 or lamb's quarter, used sometimes as spring 

 greens ; and the C. anthclminticum, or worm- 

 seed, a plant having a strong, disagreeable 

 odour, and yielding the well-known worm-seed 

 oil, a valuable and powerful vermifuge. 



GOOSE-GRASS (Galiwn Irifidum). Three- 

 cleft galium ; also known by the common 

 name of ladies bed-straw. This native Ame- 

 rican plant is met with in moist, low grounds 

 and thickets, where its small, white flowers 

 appear in July. Its root is perennial, the stem 

 rising 1, 2, or 3 feet long, and much branched. 

 Professor Hooker thinks this may be distinct 

 from the G. trifidum of Europe, which, he says, 

 is a more slender plant than ours. (Flor. Ces- 

 trica.) See HARIFF. 



GOOSE-GRASS, DYER'S. See MADDER, 

 WILD. 



GOSSYPIUM. The generic name of cotton. 

 This plant, which administers so greatly to the 

 wants of man, and to the wealth of countries 

 producing it abundantly, has been known and 

 employed by the Asiatics and Egyptians in the 

 fabrication of clothing, from the earliest dates 

 of antiquity that have reached us. By the 

 Greeks and Romans, however, it does not 

 appear to have been in use. Pliny informs 

 us that in Upper Egypt, on the borders of Ara- 

 bia, grew a shrub called gossipion or zylon, the 

 fruit-pod of which enclosed a sort of soft wool, 

 of which the garments of the Egyptian priests 

 were manufactured. Goz, which, in the Arabic, 

 implies a silky substance, is doubtless the root 

 of the word designating the genus of the plant. 



There are several species of the cotton plant 

 cultivated in different parts of the world, which 

 may be resolved into the following: 1. The 

 common Green-seed Cotton of the United States, 

 the Gossypium herbaceum of botanists, fig. 1. 

 This has a smooth stem, leaves with five lobes, 

 2 z 2 545 



