529 



Ojc Evezguvy af 2Sotang, 



[gesn 



usually clothed beneath with white cot- 

 tony down ; some, as G. asplenifolia, have 

 pinnatifld leaves, calling to mind the 

 fronds of Aspleniuvi Trichomanes, but the 

 larger proportion have the leaves oval or 

 oblong and entire. The flower-stalk which 

 rises from the crown bears on its apex a 

 single large flower-head one to two inches 

 across, the ray florets in which are yellow, 

 purple, or blood colour, disposed in a single 

 or double row, and containing a pistil only, 

 ; while the disk florets are usually yellow and 

 i perfect. The achenes are cylindrical or 

 1 flattened, smooth, beaked, and crowned 

 ! with a pappus of two or more series of 

 ! rough hairs. The name Lasiopus is by 

 some authors given to those species which 

 ; have a double row of ray florets. [A. A. B.] 



I GERMANDER. Tencrium Cliamcedrys; 

 ■ also a common name for the genus Teu- 

 | crium. — , "WATER. Teucrium Scordium. 

 — , WOOD. Teucrium Scorodonia. 



\ GERMANDREE. (Fr.) Teucrium. — 

 ' AQUATIQUE. Teucrium Scordium. — 

 FEMELLE. Teucrium Botrys. —MARI- 

 TIME. Teucrium Marum. — OFFICI- 

 NALE. Teucrium Chamcedrys. — SATJ- 

 j VAGE. Teucrium Scorodonia. 



GERMAN TINDER. The Soft Amadou, 

 Polyporus fomentarius. 



GERMEN. The ovary. 



GERMINATION. The first act of growth 

 by an embryo plant, connected with the 

 absorption of oxygen and the extrication 

 of carbonic acid. Germination ceases 

 when the latter begins to be decomposed. 



GERNOTTE. <Fr.) Bunium Bulbocasta- 

 num. 



GEROFLE, or G^ROFLIER. (Fr.) 

 Caryophyllus aromaticus. 



GERONTOGEOU3. Of or belonging to 

 the Old World. 



GEROPOGON. A genus of the compo- 

 site family nearly related to Tragopogon, 

 and consisting of an annual glabrous herb 

 of the south of Europe, having simple 

 stems, subamplexicaul entire elongated 

 leaves, and capitules of purplish flowers 

 solitary at the thickened apex of the stem. 

 It differs from Tragopogon in having hair- 

 like scales on the receptacle, and in the 

 nature of the pappus. [T. M.] 



GERVAO. A Brazilian name for Stachy- 

 tarpha jamaicensis. 



GESNERACE^E. (Cyrtandracece, Didy- 

 mocarpece, Gesnervjorts.) A natural order 

 of corollifloral dicotyledons belonging to 

 Lindley's bignonial alliance of perigynous 

 Exogens. Herbs or shrubs often growing 

 from scaly tubers, with wrinkled usually 

 opposite leaves and showy flowers ; calyx 

 half-adherent five-parted ; corolla more or 

 less irregular, five-lobed ; stamens two, or 

 four and didynamous with the rudiment 

 of a fifth, the anthers often combined. 

 Ovary one-celled, surrounded at the base 

 by glands or a ring. Fruit capsular or 



i succulent, one-celled, with parietal placen- 

 tas to the right and left of the axis. Na- 

 tives of various parts of the world, chiefly 

 the warmer regions of America. The suc- 

 culent fruits are occasionally edible, and 

 some of the species yield a dye. The leaves 

 of some of them produce buds when laid 

 on the soil. There are upwards of 80 genera, 

 and nearly 300 species. Gesnera, Gloxinia, 

 Achimenes, Strepiocarpus, and Cyrtandra 

 furnish examples. [J. H. B.] 



GESNERA. The typical genus of Gesne- i 

 racece, consisting of numerous tropical 

 j South American species, some of which I 

 are amongst the most beautiful of the | 

 I herbaceous plants cultivated in our stoves, i 

 It has, like some other genera of the order, j 

 I been much broken up by modern botanists. 

 ; Some of the species are referred to a divi- | 

 sion called Brachylomatece, in which there 

 are squamose catkin-like stolones, as in j 

 Achimenes; others to the Eugesnerece, i 

 which have tuberous rhizomes ; and j 

 others to the Bhytidophyllece, which are 

 shrubby or subshrubby in habit. In the I 

 modern restricted form, Gesnera itself | 

 consists of plants with depressed tubers, j 

 a racemose corymbose or panicled inflores- | 

 cence, and somewhat two-lipped corollas, I 

 much longer than the calyx, and with a , 

 short galea or upper lip, differing in the j 

 latter particular from Dirccea, another of | 

 the Eugesnerece, in which the tipper lip is j 

 very much elongated and fornicate. The ! 

 flowers have also from two to five con- | 

 spicuous glands. Of the five groups into 

 which the restricted genus is divided, the 

 following species are examples : G. dis- 

 color, macrostachya, tuberosa, Scepirum, and 

 punctata. The most familiar of the sepa- 

 rated genera in the several tribes are the 

 following, the first three of which belong 

 to the Brachylomatece, the next two to the 

 Eugesnerece, and the remainder to the Bhy- 

 tidophyllece :— 



Ncegelia : with a campanulate-cylindrical 



corolla tube, inflated beneath, and short 



subbilabiate limb, a five-crenate perigy- 



! nous glandular ring, and a stomatomor- 



! phous stigma : ex. G. zebrina. 



Kbhleria : with an oblique corolla having 

 a cylindrical or tumid deflexed tube, and 

 ringent limb, five subequal glands, and a 

 bifid stigma: ex. G. Seemanni. 



Cryptoloma : with a straight corolla tube, 

 and very short limb, five subequal glands, 

 and a bifid stigma : ex. G. honclensis. 



Eechsteineria : with a subbilabiate tubu- 

 lar corolla, two large dorsal glands and 

 three smaller ventral ones, and a stomato- 

 morphous stigma : ex. G. allagophylla. 



Dirccea : with a gaping tubular corolla, 

 the upper lip elongate-fornicate, the lower 

 truncate, two connate dorsal glands, and a 

 stomatomorphous stigma : ex. G. bulbosa. 



Houttea : with a long corolla tube, and 

 short spreading limb, and five glands, of 

 which the dorsal are larger and connate : 

 ex. G. pardina. 



Moussonia : with a shorter subinflated 

 corolla tube, and scarcely spreading limb, 

 and five subequal glands : ex. G. elongata. 



