I GEIS] 



Cf)c ®reas'urg at aSotanj?. 



524 



disk, in the centre of which the five ovaries 

 are placed. The fruit consists of from one 

 to three carpels which are adherent at their 

 base. [M. T. M.J 



GEISSOIS. A genus of Cunoniacece, 

 native of New Caledonia, distinguished 

 by having a calyx of four leathery ovate 

 sepals with shaggy hairs on the inside, no 

 corolla, eight to ten stamens with rich 

 crimson filaments an inch long, and a style 

 bearing two stigmas. The seed-vessel is 

 two-celled and two-valved, containing 

 many compressed winged seeds. It con- 

 sists of a small tree, bearing closely packed 

 flowers in long racemes on the old wood, 

 and opposite leaves with five slightly ser- 

 rated leaflets. A plant of this genus has 

 been lately introduced which is possibly- 

 distinct from the original species, G. race- 

 mosa, described by Labillardiere. [R. H.] 



GEISSOLOMA. The name applied to a 

 Sauth African shrub, referred to the Pe- 

 nceacece, and distinguished from Pencea 

 by the imbricated arrangement of the 

 lobes of the perianth ; by the presence of 

 eight stamens, the anthers of which have 

 not a fleshy connective; and by the pen- 

 dulous ovules : thus affording a singular 

 illustration of the great difference exist- 

 ing between some plants in certain cases, 

 where nevertheless it is not considered 

 advisable to place them indifferent groups, 

 because, in spite of their numerous points 

 of diversity, they are yet more closely 

 allied one to the other than to anything 

 else. G. marginata, a greenhouse shrub, 

 has red flowers surrounded by a number 

 of scale-like bracts. [M. T. MJ 



GEISSOMERIA. A genus of Acantha- 

 cece, containing nine species from Brazil. 

 They are undershrubs, with a tetragonous 

 stem, oval or oblong leaves, and long red, 

 often velvety flowers, in many-flowered 

 spikes. These have a five-parted calyx, a 

 tubular corolla dilated upwards, four sta- 

 mens inserted near the base of the corolla 

 tube, the filaments hairy at the base, and 

 the one-celled anthers acute at both ends. 

 The fruit is oval, and four-seeded. [W. 0.] 



GEISSORHIZA. A genus of South Afri- 

 can Iridacece, one species of which has 

 been found in Abyssinia. The plants have 

 bulo-tuberous rhizomes, narrow setaceous 

 or sword-shaped leaves, and a simple or 

 branched stem bearing the large showy 

 flowers in one-sided spikes. The perianth is 

 funnel-shaped, with a short tube, and an 

 ample six-parted nearly equal limb, the 

 segments of which bear a nectariferous 

 pore at the base ; the three stamens are in- 

 cluded ; the style is filiform and declinate, 

 with three linear wedge-shaped condupli- 

 cate stigmas ; and the ovary is three-celled, 

 with numerous ovules arranged in two 

 rows in the oentral angles of the cells. The 

 rhizomes are covered by thecrustaceous or 

 scarious remains of the bases of the leaves, 

 which lie over each other like the tiles of 

 a roof, and hence the name of Tile-root has 

 been given to the plants. The ixia-like 



flowers are very showy, and various in 

 colour. [T. MJ 



GELA. Entada Pursmtha. 



GEL ASINE. A genus of Iridacece closely 

 allied to Trichonema, with which it is 

 united by many botanists. G. azurea, a 

 dwarb bulbous plant from the Rio Grande 

 in South America, is the type. [T. M.] 



GELIDIACE.E. A natural order of 

 rose-spored Algce belonging to the group 

 which bears necklaces of spores (Desmio- 

 spermece), and amongst these distinguished 

 by the placenta being axial or suspended 

 by filaments in the cavity of the external 

 or half-immersed capsules. It contains 

 many very beautiful Algce, especially in 

 warmer latitudes, amongst which the 

 Hypnece are conspicuous, on almost every 

 tropical coast, for the hooked tips of the 

 fronds. Gelidium corneum, one of our com- 

 monest and most variable seaweeds, with 

 its rigid compressed more or less repeat- 

 edly pinnate frond, occurs almost every- 

 where in some form or other. [M. J. B.] 



GELINE^E. Cells in algals secreting 

 vegetable jelly. 



GELL, or GILL. Glechoma Tiederacea. 



GELSEMIUM. A genus of Loganiacece, 

 consisting of an evergreen lactescent 

 climbing shrub, found in the vicinity of 

 rivers in the southern states of America. 

 It has opposite lance-shaped shining 

 leaves with small axillary glands, and 

 few-flowered axillary fascicles of sweet- 

 scented yellow flowers, which have a 

 small five-lobed calyx, and a large funnel- 

 shaped corolla, with a five-cleft almost 

 equal limb. The fruit is composed of two 

 separable jointed follicles containing nu- 

 merous flat seeds. G. nitidum is called the 

 Carolina Jasmine. [T. MJ 



GEMINATE. United or collected in 



GEMINI. Two together. 



GEMINIPLOROUS. When two flowers 

 grow together. 



GEMMA. A leaf -bud; leaf -buds are 

 sometimes also called foliiferce gemmce, and 

 flower-buds (alabastri), floriferce gemmce. 

 The term Gemma? is also applied to certain 

 small reproductive bodies found in some 

 liverworts, which are regarded as analo- 

 gous to leaf-buds. 



GEMMATIO. The act of budding ; the 

 manner in which young leaves are folded 

 up in the bud prior to its unfolding. 



GEMMULE. The plumule; also the ovule. 



GEN. Persian manna, an exudation 

 caused by insects on the stems of Tamarix, 

 according to some authorities ; but accord- 

 ing to others it is produced by Alhagi Mau- 

 rorum. 



GENDARTJSSA. A genus of Acantliacece, 

 containing a single species, growing every- 

 where in India. It is a shrub with narrow 



