GNAP] 



Kfyz Creagury of 23ata«g. 



538 



entire, and generally oval and pointed ; and 

 the handsome yellow blossoms are disposed 

 in raceme-like panicles, the tranches of 

 which are clothed with short yellow down. 

 G. arborea, a large timber tree of the moun- 

 tainous parts of India, affords a good wood 

 useful for many purposes. According to 

 Roxburgh, that of such trees as will square 

 into logs from eighteen to twenty-four 

 inches, bears much resemblance to teak, 

 with the same colour, a closer grain, as 

 light if not lighter, and easily worked. 

 He found the wood to resist the effects of 

 the s\m and water better than teak, and 

 remarks that the decks of pinnaces are 

 made of this wood at Chittagong, &c, be- 

 cause it resists the weather better than 

 any other, and does not shrink or warp. Of 

 G. Eheedii, a Ceylon tree, producing large 

 and numerous tawny-yellow flowers in the 

 summer months, the bark and roots, as well 

 as those of G. asiatica, are used medici- 

 nally by the Cingalese. [A. A. B.] 



GNAPHALIUM. The Everlasting : a ge- 

 nus of plants belonging to the Composite, 

 distinguished from Antennaria by having 

 the heads all alike and the receptacle naked, 

 and from Filago by having the receptacle 

 flat and not conical. The involucre or 

 common calyx, in all the species, is of the 

 peculiar character termed scarious or ever- 

 lasting : hence the English name. Many of 

 them, with white, yellow, or pink flowers, 

 are natives of the Cape of Good Hope. The 

 foliage is usually thickly invested with 

 white woolly down, and the flower-heads 

 are remarkablefor the permanence of their 

 form and colour. G. luteo-album is the 

 only British species which has any preten- 

 sions to beauty ; it has only been found 

 wild in one or two places in England, but 

 is more frequent in Jersey. G. uiiginosum, 

 a minute tufted plant, with narrow cottony 

 leaves, and numerous heads of small yel- 

 lowish-brown flowers, is very common on 

 damp heaths and in places where water has 

 stood during winter. French, Gnaphale ; 

 German, Ruhrpflanze. [C. A. J.] 



GNAPHALODES. Three little Australian 

 weeds, belonging to the composite family, 

 and in appearance much like our own cud- 

 weeds {Filago), being clothed with cottony 

 wool ; they are, moreover, nearly allied to 

 them, but differ in all the florets being 

 perfect, instead of the outer ones being 

 female and the inner perfect. The flower- 

 heads have an involucre of numerous 

 scales ; and the achenes, seated on a cone- 

 shaped naked receptacle, are smooth, and 

 crowned with a pappus of five narrow and 

 rigid ciliate scales. [A. A. B.] 



GNAVELLE. (Fr.) Scleranthus. 



GNAWED. The same as Erose. 



GNETACE.E. (Joint Firs.) A natural order 

 of monochlamydeous dicotyledons, belong- 

 ing to Lindley's class of Gymnogens. Small 

 trees or creeping shrubs, not resinous, with 

 jointed stems and branches, and opposite 

 reticulated, sometimes scaly leaves. Flow- 

 ers monoecious or dioecious, arranged in 



catkins or heads, surrounded by opposite 

 scales which unite more or less completely. 

 The staminate flowers have a one-leaved 

 perianth, and one-celled anthers, opening 

 by pores ; the pistillate ones either have no 

 covering, or are enclosed by two scales. 

 Ovules usually considered naked, one of 

 their coats being protruded through the 

 hole so as to form a long style-likeprocess ; 

 seed with a succulent covering ; embryo 

 with a long twisted suspensor. Natives of 

 temperate as well as warm regions in Eu- 

 rope, Asia, and South America. The seeds 

 of some of them are eaten. There are two 

 genera, Ephedra and Gnetum, and about 

 thirty species. [J. H. B.] 



GNETUM. A genus of plants typical of 

 the order Gnetaeece. The flowers are pro- 

 duced in cylindrical jointed catkins, the 

 staminate ones having a membranaceous 

 perianth, a single stamen, and an anther 

 opening by a pore ; and the pistillate ones 

 being without any proper covering. The 

 ovule is solitary and orthotropal ; and the 

 seed has an outer succulent coat. Trees 

 or creeping shrubs found in tropical Asia 

 and Guiana. They have jointed knotty- 

 branches, opposite, exstipulate, entire, 

 smooth leaves, and axillary or terminal 

 stalked catkins. There are some half- 

 dozen species. The outer covering of the 

 seeds of G. urens is lined with stinging 

 hairs. The seeds of G. Gnemon and other 

 species are roasted and eaten. [J. H. B.J 



GNIDIA. A genus of Thymelacece, bear- 

 ing complete tetramerous flowers, whose 

 calyx is coloured, funnel-shaped, with a 

 regular four-divided limb; scales four to 

 eight, inserted into the upper part of the 

 calycine tube and projecting beyond it; 

 anthers eight, in two rows, attached to the 

 tube of the calyx ; ovary sessile ; style 

 lateral, equalling the tube of the calyx ; 

 stigma capitate and papillose. The fruit 

 is a nut, enclosed by the persistent calyx. 

 Shrubs or undershrubs found in the south- 

 ern and eastern tropical parts of Africa. 

 They are heath-like plants, with slender 

 branches, scattered or opposite leaves, ter- 

 minal usually capitate flowers, which are 

 of a white, yellow, reddish, or lilac colour, 

 and are mostly pubescent externally. 

 There are fifty known species. The bark 

 of G. daphnoides supplies ropes in Mada- 

 gascar. [J. H. B.] 



GNOMONICAL. Bent at right angles. 



GOATBUSH. Castela Nicolsoni. 



GOATROOT. Ononis Natrix. 



GOATWEED. Capraria biflora. 



GOAT'S-BANE. Aconitum Tragoctonum. 



GOAT'S-BEARD. Tragopogon; also Spi- 

 rcea Aruncus. 



GOAT'S-FOOT. Oxalis caprina. 



GOATS-HORN. Astragalus Mgiceras. 



GOAT'S-THORN Astragalus Tragacan- 

 tJia, and A. Potenum. 



GOBBO. Abelmoschus esculentus. 



