GAULTHERIE DU CANADA. (Fr.) Gaul 

 theria procumbens. 



GATJRA. A genus of onagrads, in which 

 the tube of the calyx is long and three or 

 four-angled below ; the corolla of four, 

 rarely three petals, turned to the upper 

 side ; the stamens eight, rarely six, those 

 opposite the petals shortest; the fruit a 

 hard woody nut, with three or four pro- 

 minent angles, and usually four-celled. 

 ' The name, "from the Greek signifying su- 

 ! pern, is not generally applicable to the 

 l species. The plants are natives of North 

 America, and have alternate leaves vary- 

 ing in outline, and the flowers in spikes, 

 white or rose-coloured, rarely yellow, 

 ; turning to reddish when fading. [G. DJ 



| GAYA. Tropical American herbs, be- 

 , longing to the mallow family, having soli- 

 ' tary yellow flowers, whose structure is 

 ! that of the closely allied Sida, from which, 

 however, the present genus is distinguish- 

 ed by the capsule, which consists of several 

 S one-seeded carpels, opening along the back 

 by two valves, and thus allowing of the 

 protrusion of an inner strap-shaped valve- 

 like appendage. [M. T. M.] 



GATAC OFFICINAL. (Fr.) Guaiacum 

 officinale. 



GAYAL. An Indian name fcr Agave vi- 

 vipara. 



GAYBINE. PharUUs. 



GAYLUSSACIA. A genus of tropical 

 American shrubs, belonging to the Vacci- 

 niacece, and named in honour of the cele- 

 brated French chemist M. Gay-Lussac. 

 The leaves are terminated by a hard spine ; 

 the corolla is tubular, distended at the 

 base; and the stamens are inserted into 

 the calyx, the anthers being without horns. 

 The ovary is inferior, and the fruit suc- 

 culent, crowned by the limb of the calyx, 

 with ten one-seeded stones. G. Pseudo- 

 Vaccinium is a greenhouse shrub with 

 pretty red flowers. [M. T. MJ 



GAZANIA A genus of low-growing 

 herbs of the composite family, peculiar to 

 Southern Africa. The greater proportion 

 are stemless, with a rosette of pinnatifid 

 leaves having linear segments, generally 

 white with elose-pressed silky down be- 

 neath. In the caulescent species, the 

 leaves are mostly narrow oblong or lance- 

 shaped, glossy green above, white beneath. 

 The flower-heads are large and handsome, 

 with yellow strap-shaped ray florets, and 

 tubular disk florets usually of a darker 

 colour. The principal characters of the 

 genus are : an involucre of many scales, 

 whose margins are united nearly to the 

 summit, so as to form a sort of cup; neuter 

 ray florets; perfect disk florets; and wing- 

 less achenes clothed with silky hairs, which 

 nearly hide the double pappus of thin and 

 delicate hairs. The double pappus serves 

 to distinguish this from Gorttria, a South 

 African genus of xery similar appearance. 

 One of the most handsome and best known 

 of the pinnatifld-leaved species is G. Par 



vonia, which has long been in cultivation 

 as a greenhouse plant, and is a beautiful 

 object when its large dark-centred orange- 

 coloured flower-heads, nearly three inches 

 across, are expanded. The plant is said to 

 be one of the greatest ornaments of the 

 waysides in its native country, opening its 

 blossoms only in sunshine. Upwards of 

 forty species are enumerated. [A. A. B.] 



GAZLES. Ribes rubrum. 



GAZON D'ESPAGNE, or D'OLYMPE. 

 (Fr.) Armeria maritima. — TCE.C. Saxi- 

 fraga hypnoides. 



GEAN. The wild Cherry, Cerasus Avium. 



GEASTER. A genus of puffballs distin- 

 guished by the outer coat or peridium 

 being perfectly distinct from the inner, 

 which contains the spores, and splitting 

 ultimately into several divisions, so as to 

 have the appearance of a star, whence the 

 name of Earth-star. Sometimes the outer 

 peridium consists of two separable coats, 

 of which the inner becomes at length in- 

 verted, so that it is lifted up and supported j 

 by the tips of its lobes upon those of the j 

 outer coat, which gave rise to the Man j 

 Fungus of the older herbalists. The inner i 

 peridium is either sessile or stipitate, and j 

 sometimes without any trace of an aper- ! 

 ture for the dispersion of the spores, while I 

 in several species there is a distinct orifice 

 which is variously fringed, folded, &c. In 

 G. coliformis there are numerous orifices, 

 and many confluent stems. In a young state 

 the hymenium, as in Lycoperdon, looks 

 like the crumb of bread, and in that con- 

 dition it has the same structure as the 

 gills of an agaric, though afterwards it 

 dries up, leaving behind a mass of threads 

 and spores. In general each peridium 

 springs from its own mass of spawn, but 

 in a fine species which occurs in Cuba, 

 Ceylon, and Japan, there is a common ex- 

 panded mycelium. Some of the species, as 

 G. hygrometricus, are extremely sensitive 

 of moisture, and are driven about by the 

 wind as shapeless masses, till the first 

 shower expands them like the fruit of the 

 Mesembryanthemum. Others, on the con- 

 trary, expand when dry, and contract when 

 moist. 



The Earth-stars are amongst our rarer, 

 or at least more local fungi, and are found 

 on leaves in shady places, or on exposed 

 banks and sands. They are more common 

 in the south-eastern and southern parts 

 of England than in other parts of Great 

 Britain. Species occur in all warmer lati- 

 tudes, but do not ascend very high north- 

 wards, or if they occur at all it is only in 

 small quantities. [M. J. B.] 



GEBLERA. The name given by Fischer 

 and Meyer to a Chinese herb of the spurge- 

 wort family, now referred to Fluggea: 

 which see. [A. A. B.] 



GEIGERA. The name of a shrub of the 

 rue family, native of tropical Australia, 

 with five-parted flowers, having the sta- 

 mens inserted beneath a fleshy five-lobed 



