684 



GKASSAVOKT 



GEASSWORT. See Cerastium. 



GRATiOLA (Latin, grace or faror, from its reputed 

 hi^aliu^ qualities). KSarophHhn-i(ii:e(P. This genus con- 

 tains au unimportant trailing annual, wbieii grows wild 

 in wet, sandy places from (Quebec to Fla., and beais 

 yellow fls.. half an inch long, from June to September. 

 G. aiirea, Muhl.,was once offered by collectors. It is a 

 glandular plant, with Ivs. lanceolate, entire or remotely 

 denticulate, and 2 sterile filaments. B.B. :):162. 



GEAVfiSIA (after C L. (iraves, who collected in 

 Madagascar). Melastoixlcvrp. Thrue species of dwarf 

 wirmhtu l t ha,.,L j Hnt^ n itn es c t M i 1 i-, is ar ml 



.^^^e- 



x^ " 



985. Asa Gray at 76 years. 



cult.ina few American <-oDservatorios. For cnlture and 

 for distinctions from allied genera, see JJertolonia , un- 

 der which name most of the varieties are still known. 



gTittita, Triana {JBerfaldniir. f/itttdfa, Hook.) . Caules- 

 cent, erect: branches obtusely 4-angled: petioles long, 

 densely scurfy-powdery; Ivs membranous, 5-nerved. 

 rotund at base, slightly scurfy above and spotted, under 

 side and calyx scurfy-powdery, cyniesterminal, several- 

 Ad. Int. 1805, and first described'at B.M.5r,24 as B.f/iit- 

 tata, where the Ivs. are shown with fairly well defined, 

 donble. lonjiitudinal rows of ronndish pink dots. F. S. 

 16:1696 is probably a copv of B.M. 5524. (See, also, (It. 

 1865, p. 385, and B.H. 1 86*5, p. 225. ) Var. sup6rba, Plurt., 

 I.H.26:359 (1870) is siiown, with more and larger red- 

 dish purpli.i spots, whirli are less regularly arranged. 

 Var. Legrelle^na {B. LeqrcUeitiKi , Van Houtte). An 

 alleged hybrid ol)taineil by Van Houtte and fiy^nred in 

 F. S. 23: 2407. Ooigneux refers this plate to Gmrrsia 

 guttata, but no fls. are shown, nor have the Ivs. any 

 spots. The nervp.s are outlined in white, and somo t-.f 

 the cross veins for short distances. Var. Alfred Bleu 

 is brilliantly spotted and lined with liright red, (be 

 nerves boldly outlined, the cross veins interrnptedly 

 outlined. I.H. 41 il.'! ( 1894). Var. margarlt^cea. Nicliol- 

 »on (B. marqai'itiirea , Hort. W. l-*>nll:=,S'-''i/''/-//*7 witr- 

 garitncea. F.S. 16 :1(;97) . So*- TK '. ^[oii. I'lian. 7 : 5.^7. 



OKAY 



GEAY, ASA (Fig. 985), botanist and naturalist, was 



born in I'aris, Oneida county, N. Y., Nov. 18, 1810, and 

 died in Cambridge, Mass., Jan. 30, 1868. His father 

 was a tanner. He studied medicine, but never prac- 

 ticed it. He early became interested in botany, and 

 entered into correspondence with Dr. Lewis 0. Beck 

 and I)r. John Torrey, both of whom -were well known 

 liotanistR of the time. In 1833, Gray became assistant 

 to Torrey, who held the chair of chemistry and botany 

 in the Kew York College of Physicians and Surgeons. 

 From this connection dates his serious botanical work. 

 His first book, the '^Elements of Botany," appeared in 

 1^36. To the schools, however, he became best known 

 through his "Lessons, "which first appeared in 1857. To 

 the last revision of this book, in 1887, he gave the name 

 Elements of Botany," thus reviving the title of his 

 maiden effort. The "Botanical Text Book "first appeared 

 in 1842: it went to a sixth edition in 1879. From the 

 first this work was accepted as the highest authority 

 on the subjects which it treated; and it is to-day the 

 model for the formal presentation of morphology and 

 taxonomy. Gray is further known as an author of text- 

 )0( ks iu the admirable books for youth, "How Plants 

 ttow," 1858, and "How Plants Behave," 1872. Gray's 

 xts at once became standards, and have done more to 

 ike botany teachable iu the schools than any other 

 merioan works. They are expressions of the older or 

 1 ical method of presenting plant subjects, as con- 

 tra.sted with the newer ideals which first intro- 

 duce the pupil to biological or life problems. They 

 will always be known as having marked an epoch 

 in the teaching of botany in America. 



Gray was chiefly known for his taxonomic and 

 descriptive work with plants. It fell to his hand 

 to review the North American flora. The western 

 country was largely unknown botanically. The 

 collections of government surveys and of individ- 

 uals went to him for study. His publications on 

 this new flora are voluminous and critical. He also 

 reviewed the floras of many of the Pacific islands 

 and of Japan. His most ambitious work was the 

 "Synoptical Flora of North America." This great 

 work began to appear in 1838, at which time he was 

 a junior author with Torrey. After having passed 

 to two volumes, comprising the orders from Ra- 

 nunculaceaa through Compositfe, the work was dis- 

 continued until, in 1878, be published the Gamo- 

 petalj-e after Composite. In 1884, he published the 

 families from Caprifoliaceffi through Composite. 

 The necessity of studying the wealth of new mate- 

 rial resulting from the extension of the national do- 

 main made the completion of the work impossible 

 in the interim. The work is still in progress by 

 Gray's successors. 



Gray's most widely known systematic work is 

 the "Manual of the Botany of the Northern United 

 States," which first appeared in 1848, and which he took 

 through five editions. The sixth edition, from the hand 

 of Sereno Watson, Gray's successor iu taxonomic work, 

 appeared in 1889. From the first it has been the stan- 

 dard flora of its region. In 1868, Gray supplemented 

 the manual by the "Field, Forest and Garden Botany," 

 which was designed as an easy introduction to the com- 

 moner wild and cultivated plants. Gray regarded this 

 as his poorest work, j^et it met a need and has been 

 deservedly popular. It has been our most acceptable 

 siccount of cultivated plants. It lacks the critical spirit 

 of his other works, and the accounts of the cultivated 

 ])Iants were drawn largely from literature, rather than 

 from the plants themselves. Working chielly with taxo- 

 nomic questions, Gray found little interest in plants 

 wliii-h, l.iy domestication, have been made to vary to the 

 confusion of the old specitic Vtounds. Yet it is remark- 

 able how accurately he indicated the species which 

 have been chiefly concerned in the evolution of garden 

 forms, and how comprehensively he covered the field of 

 the domestic flora. A revision of the "Field, Forest and 

 Garden Botany " was ma<le in 1895. 



In liis view of species, Gray accepted the dominant 

 ]']nglish ideal as held by the Hookers and by Bentham. 

 Species wei'O large conjunctive groups: be tended to 

 make fnw rather than numy. There were indications of 

 a j-evolt from this point of view in the later years, but 



