54 



Wfyz EreaSury of 230tang. 



[gran 



countries ; the sugar-cane {Saccharum offlci- 

 narurn) is another valuable grass from a 

 commercial point of view. Among the 

 cereal grasses cultivated for food may be 

 enumerated : — wheat, barley, oats, rye, 

 rice, Indian corn, millets, Guinea corn, and 

 swamp rice. The grains of Coix Lachryma 

 are used as beads under the name of Job's 



' tears. The tussac grass of the Falkland 

 Islands is the Daciylis ccespitosa. Some 



i grasses are useful in binding the loose 

 sand of the sea-shore. There are about 300 



L genera of grasses and 4,000 species. Ex- 



i amples : Oryza, Zea, Phleurn, Panicum, 

 Anthoxanthum, Poa, Dactylis, Festuca, Bro- 

 mus, Pambusa, Lolium, Triticum, Hordeum, 

 Saccharum. [J. H. B.] 



GRAMMADENIA. A small genus of 

 Myrsinacece, found in the West Indies 

 and the adjoining mainland, related to 

 Myrsine, but having the flowers in racemes 

 instead of fascicles ; and to Cybianthus, but 

 having a five to six-parted instead of four- 

 parted calyx and corolla. Their stems are 

 abundantly furnished with sessile, lance- 

 shaped, entire leaves, marked with curious 

 linear glands, thus suggesting the name of 

 the genus. The very minute flowers are 

 succeeded by a globose ovary, which be- 

 comes when ripe a round berry the size of 

 a small pea, with few seeds. [A. A. B.] 



GRAMMANTHES. Succulent herba- 

 ceous plants, natives of the Cape of Good 

 Hope, forming a genus of Crassulncece, 

 nearly allied to Crassula, but distinguished 

 from it by the corolla, which is tubular, 

 with a limb divided into five or six oval 

 lobes, and by the absence of scales at the 

 base of the ovary. They are pretty little 

 plants as seen during sunshine. [M. T. M.] 



GRAMMATOCARPUS. A genus of 

 Loasacece found, in Chili and Peru, and 

 nearly allied to Loasa, differing chiefly in 

 its slender twisted capsular fruits, which 

 are one to two inches long, and not much 

 thicker than their stalks. The Chilian 

 species, G. volubilis, is a slender twining 

 annual herb, with opposite twice pinna- 

 tifld leaves, and stalked yellow cup-shaped 

 flowers, solitary in the axils of the leaves, 

 and nearly an inch across ; they have a calyx 

 border of five linear segments ; ten petals, 

 five large and somewhat spurred at the base, 

 and five smaller three-awned at the apex; 

 and numerous stamens, the fertile ones in 

 five bundles. [A. A. B.] 



GRAMMATOPHYLLPM. The few species 

 which make up this genus of orchids are 

 amongst the most choice in cultivation. 

 G. speciosum has been called the Queen of 

 I ^Orchidaceous plants. This superb species, 

 j a native of Java and the adjacent islands, 

 ' has stout stems from six to ten feet long, 

 bearing a number of strap-shaped leaves 

 I one to two feet in length, arranged in a 

 t wo-ranked manner. The flower-scape arises 

 j from the base of the stem, and is some- 

 times six feet in length, the flowers nume- 

 rous but distant on the panicle, each borne 

 on a stalk (ovary) about six inches long, 

 this being also the diameter of the fully 



expanded flowers, which are of a bright 

 yellow colour, spotted and blotched with 

 deep purple ; the lip is trilobed and compa- 

 ratively small. Prom Manilla we have G. 

 multiflorum, a plant with pseudobulbs 

 instead of lengthened stems, producing 

 from its apex three or four long strap- 

 shaped leaves, and from its base a raceme 

 nearly two feet long of yellow flowers 

 beautifully painted over with blood-red 

 stains of grotesque form. G. Ellisii, an- 

 other pseudobulbous species, was intro- 

 duced from Madagascar, and has the sepals 

 and petals yellow and beautifully barred 

 transversely with dark lines, while the 

 petals and lip are of a pale pink colour. 

 This plant is considered by Reichenbachto 

 forma distinct genus, to which he gives the 

 name G-rammangis. The genus is nearly 

 related to Cymbidium— the principal dif- 

 ference being, according to Dr. Lindley, 

 that in the'latter the gland of the pollen- 

 masses is triangular, while in this it is cres- 

 cent-shaped, with one pollen-mass at each 

 extremity of the crescent. There is also 

 a shallow sac at the base of the column and 

 lip, not noted in Cymbidium. [A. A. B.J 



GRAMMATOTHECA. A genus of slender 

 branching herbs, natives of the Cape of 

 Good Hope, and belonging to the Lobeliacece. 

 They are distinguished mainly by their 

 corolla, which is tubular below, with a 

 five-parted limb in two divisions, the 

 lower lip consisting of three pendent seg- 

 ments, larger than the two constituting 

 the upper lip ; the style is concealed with- 

 in the corolla, and bears a two-lobed 

 stigma whose lobes are widely separate 

 one from the other. The genus is closely 

 related to Clintonia. [M. T. MJ 



GRAMMITIS.' A genus of polypodia- 

 ceous ferns, producing oblique naked ob- 

 long or elliptic sori, and having free 

 simple or forked veins. The group is 

 often restricted to certain small simple- 

 fronded plants, of which G. BiUardieri 

 may be taken as the type ; but to these are ] 

 sometimes added a few larger compound- 

 fronded species, more closely resembling 

 Gymnogramma in habit, but having simple 

 oblong instead of forked sori. [T. M.J 



GRAMMICUS. When the spots upon a 

 surface assume the form and appearance 

 of letters. 



GRAMON DE MONTAGNE. (Fr.) Smilax 

 aspera. 



GRANA MOLUCCANA. The seeds of 

 Croton Tiglium and Pavana. — PARADISI. 

 The seeds of Amomum Granum Paradisi. 



— SAGU. The granulated Sago of com- 

 merce. — TETRASTICHA. The spores 

 of certain fungals. - TIGLIA or TILLA. 

 The seeds of Croton Tiglium. 



GRANADILLA. Passiflora quadrangu- 

 laris, maliformis, laurifolia, incarnata, 

 edulis, &c, which bear edible fruits. 



GRAND BAUME. (Fr.) Pyrethrum Tana- 

 cetum. — GENTIANE. Gentiana lutea. 



— MILLET. Sorghum vulgare. — MO- 



