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effect. The roots of G. lutea are princi- 

 pally used in this country ; they are col- 

 lected in Switzerland and the Tyrol. The 

 roots of G. purpurea, G. punctata, and G. 

 pannonica are used for like purposes ; in- 

 deed, almost any species might be employed 

 that could be obtained in sufficient quan- 

 tity. G. cruciata has been invested with 

 imaginary virtues, because its leaves grow 

 in the form of a cross ; it has been recom- 

 mended in hydrophobia. The Swiss make 

 a liqueur from some of the species. Some 

 of the Himalayan and North American 

 kinds are used, like the European ones, as 

 tonics. [M. T. M.] 



GENTIAN'E. (Fr.) Gentiana lutea. 



GENTIAXELLA. A common name for 

 Gentiana acaulis ; also Cryphiacantausbar- 

 badensis. 



GEXTIAXELLE. (Fr.) Exacum. 



GEXTIAXWORTS. Lindley's name for 

 the order Gentianacece. 



GEOCARYOI. The name of a genus of 

 UmbelUferce closely allied to Bunium, but 

 distinguished from it by the styles being 

 more erect, and by the structure of the 

 fruits, which have five ridges, with as many 

 wide oil-channels in the interspaces. In 

 Bunium, on the contrary, there are two or 

 three such channels in each interspace. 

 G. capillifolium is a native of the south of 

 Europe, Barbary, &c, and has a bulb-like 

 stock, whence the name of the genus, which 

 signifies earth-nut. [M. T. M.] 



GEOCOCCUS. A diminutive cruciferous 

 annual stemless herb of Western Australia, 

 throwing out from the neck a series of 

 ' pinnatifid leaves, from whose axils emerge 

 the minute flowers. After flowering, the 

 peduncles become deflexed, and bury the 

 small seed-vessels about an inch beneath 

 the surface of the ground. [T. M.] 



GEODOROJ. The generic name of a 

 few terrestrial East Indian orchids of the 

 tribe Yandew. They have tuberous roots, 

 radical lance-shaped or elliptical leaves 

 six to eighteen inches long, and lateral 

 flower-scapes terminating in a nodding 

 spike of flowers, which in some are of a pale 

 green colour, the lip white and veined with ' 

 yellow or purple lines, and in others are 

 blush with a yellow spot on the lip. The j 

 sepals and petals are free and connivent; j 

 the lip hooded, sessile, and not jointed : 

 with the very short column ; there are two 

 bilobed pollen-masses with a short caudicle 

 and a transverse gland. G. dilatatum and i 

 G. citrinum are in cultivation. [A. A. B.J 



GEOFFROTA. A genus of pinnate- 

 leaved South American Leguminosoe of the 

 tribe Balbergiece, and differing from most 

 in that group in having drupaceous fruits 

 instead of thin dry pods. From Andira, to 

 which it is most nearly allied, it differs j 

 in the flowers being in simple racemes in- I 

 stead of panicles, and usually yellow with i 

 , a fetid smell, instead of purple and smell- 

 : ing sweetly ; the calyx, also, is distinctly ' 



' or deeply instead of obscurely toothed. 

 There are five species enumerated. 



G. superba is a tree of eighteen to twentv- 

 flve feet,with the habit of a tamarind, and is 

 found in Brazil and Venezuela. Its pinnate 

 leaves are four to six inches long ; and the 

 yellow fetid pea-flowers are in simple ra- 

 cemes the length of the leaves. The fruits, 

 about the size and form of a walnut, have a 

 greenish-yellow downy rind, a fleshy pulp, 

 and a hard nut or stone enclosing a single 

 seed. Humboldt, in his Plantes Equinoxi- 

 ales, says this is a truly magnificent tree, 

 from the disposition of its branches clothed 

 with beautiful green leaves, as well as 

 from the great abundance of its yellow 

 flowers. According to the same authority, 

 the wood is hard, susceptible of a fine 

 polish, and useful for building purposes, 

 while the fruits are not agreeable, but are 

 eaten by children and much sought after 

 by various animals. Mr. Gardner says the 

 fruits are called Mari in various parts of 

 Brazil. He found them to be the principal 

 food of the inhabitants of the Ilha de St. 

 Pedro, who boil them, eating the fleshy 

 portion first, and then the kernel. Ahnen- 

 dora, or Almond, is a name given to the 

 tree on the Amazon. [A. A. B.] 



GEOGLOSSUM. A genus of ascomyce- 

 tous Fungi which in outward aspect has 

 the appearance of Clavaria, and in conse- 

 quence has been wrongly associated with 

 the clavate Fungi. The whole plant is 

 club-shaped, with the hymeniuiu covering 

 the entire surface of the club except at 

 the base, the distinction between head 

 and stem being generally only slightly 

 marked. There are two distinct groups, 

 those which are black or brown, and those 

 which are green, purple, &c. In the former 

 the sporidia are septate and much elon- 

 gated, in the latter minute and simple. 

 The species occur in closely-shaven lawns, 

 in grassy pastures, and amongst Sphagnum 

 or rottenwood, &c. Occasionally the stem is 

 either viscid and scaly, or densely velvety. 

 No species appears to be esculent. Earth- 

 tongues occur in most temperate parts of 

 the world, but they are more frequent in 

 Europe than elsewhere. pVI. J. B.] 



GEOXOMA. A genus of palms closely 

 resembling Clia.mmdorea in general appear- 

 ance, and like these confined to the tropics 

 of the western hemisphere, where they 

 form part of the underwood of dense 

 forests. There are about forty known spe- 

 cies, a few of which are stemless, but the 

 generality have slender reed-like polished 

 stems, marked with rings or scars of fallen 

 leaves, and bearing at their summit a tuft 

 of large leaves, which are usually quite 

 entire when young, but afterwards split 

 so as to become irregularly pinnate. The 

 male and female flowers are borne on the 

 same plant, but are sometimes, though not 

 always, on distinct spikes ; each spike is en- 

 closed in a double spathe, and is either un- 

 branched or variously branched, the small 

 yellow or purple flowers being seated in 

 little hollows, the males in clusters of two 

 or three, and the females solitary. The 



