Ginx] 



Qifyz ExetuZuvn ai 23ntang. 



556 



prickles on the leaves, and the seeds are 

 yellow. G. Bonducella differs by its prickles 

 being in pairs, and its seeds lead-coloured. 

 The seeds of both are very hard, and beau- 

 tifully polished, and are called Nicker nuts 

 or Bonduc nuts, the latter word being de- 

 rived from the Arabic, Bondog, signifying 

 a necklace, the seeds being commonly 

 strung into necklaces, bracelets, rosaries, 

 &c. the kernels have a very bitter taste, 

 and are employed by Indian doctors as a 

 tonic and febrifuge. The roots also are 

 said to possess similar properties : indeed, 

 the Singhalese employ every part of these 

 plants medicinally. The oil obtained from 

 the seeds is supposed to be useful in con- 

 vulsions and palsy. [A. S.] 



GUILDINGIA. A group of melastomads 

 now referred to Mouriria. 



GTJILIELMA. A genus of palms confined 

 to the tropical regions of South America, 

 and containing three species, which have 

 tall slender trunks marked with circular 

 scars and armed with exceedingly sharp 

 black spines. The large pinnate leaves have 

 spiny leaflets and footstalks. The flower 

 spikes are simply branched, and bear male 

 and female flowers mixed together. The 

 fruit is large and egg-shaped, containing a 

 single seed. 



G. speciosa, the Peach Palm, a native of 

 Venezuela and Guiana, is cultivated on 

 the banks of the Amazon and Rio Negro. 

 It grows sixty or eighty feet high, and has 

 its stems armed with rings of long sharp 

 needle-like spines. The fruits, which are 

 borne in large drooping bunches, are about 

 the size of apricots, and of a bright scarlet 

 colour at the top passing into bright orange 

 below ; their fleshy outer portion (sarco- 

 carp) contains a large quantity of starchy 

 matter, which forms a considerable portion 

 of the food of the natives. They are either 

 boiled or roasted, and when eaten with salt 

 resemble a potato in flavour; or they are 

 sometimes eaten with molasses. A bever- 

 age is also prepared by fermenting them in 

 water; and the meal obtained from them 

 is made into cakes. The wood of old trees 

 is black, and so exceedingly hard that it 

 turns the edge of an ordinary axe. [A. S.] 



GTJILNO. (Fr.) Bromus catharticus. 



GUIMAUVE. (Fr.) Althcea officinalis. 

 — EN ARBRE. Hibiscus syriacus. 



GUINCHE. (Fr.) Molinia ccerulea. 



GUINDOLLE, or GUINDOUX. (Fr.) 

 Cerasus vulgaris. 



GTTINEA-HEN FLOWER. Fritillaria 

 meleagris. 



GUINEA-HEN "WEED. Petiveria allia- 

 cea. 



GUIRILA. The Persian insect-powder, 

 prepared from Pyrelhrum carneum, and P. 

 roseum. 



GUIZOTIA. A small genus of annual 

 opposite-leaved composite herbs found in 

 APyssinia and India, and nearly related to 

 Heltopsis, differing chiefly in the presence 



of a ring of thick jointed hairs outside the 

 corolla tubes near the base. G. oleifera, a 

 plant with the habit of Bidens cernua, has 

 lance-shaped stem-clasping leaves, and 

 solitary stalked yellow-rayed flower-heads 

 about an inch and a half across at the ends 

 of the twigs; the ray florets female; the disk 

 florets perfect ; the achenes smooth and 

 destitute of pappus. The plant is culti- 

 vated in Abyssinia and in India for the sake 

 of a bland oil like that of Sesamum, which 

 is expressed from the seeds, and is com- 

 monly used in India as a lamp-oil and as a 

 condiment. The plant is sown jn the My- 

 sore districts in the autumn months, per- 

 fecting its seeds in about twelve weeks 

 after it is sown. The yield is said to be 

 about two bushels an acre. The oil is 

 1 sweet-tasted, and is known in India as 

 Ram-til oil. [A. A.B.] 



GUJ-PIPPTJL. Scindapsus officinalis. 



GULF WEED (called also by voyagers 

 Sea-lentils, Sea-grasses, and Sargazo) is the 

 celebrated Sargassum bacciferum, which 

 occupies a more or less interrupted space 

 between the 20th and 45th parallels of north 

 latitude, extending over more than a quar- 

 ter of a million of square miles. It was first 

 discovered by Columbus, unless indeed the 

 Phoenicians fell in with it during their 

 early voyages, as seems possible from a 

 passage in Aristotle. The seaweed floats 

 on the surface, being propagated from age 

 to age by buds, and never in that situation 

 yielding fruit, which when produced con- 

 sists of little bundles of receptacles in the 

 axils of the leaves. The area occupied by 

 the seaweed is determined by the course 

 of the currents in the Atlantic, and occa- 

 sionally a few stragglers are carried north- 

 ward by the Gulf Stream, and are thrown 

 even upon our own coasts. The origin 

 of this mass of seaweed has not been de- 

 termined. Its increase in deep water is, 

 however, the less surprising if we remem- 

 ber that the root of seaweeds merely per- 

 forms the office of a holdfast, and has not 

 the function of a true root. [M. J. B.] 



GUM, ACAROID. A resinous product 

 of Xanthorrhcea hastilis or arborea. — 

 AMMONIACUM. The gum-resin of Bo- 

 rema ammoniacum. — ANIME orANIMI. 

 A resinous product of Hymencea Courbaril; 

 also Indian Copal, the produce of Valeria 

 indica. — ARABIC. The gummy product 

 of various Acacias, as vera, arabica, Verek, 

 Seyal, Senegal, tortilis, &c. — , ARTIFI- 

 CIAL. Dextrine, obtained from potato 

 starch. — , AUSTRALIAN. A kind of 

 gum arabic. — , BABOOL. The gum of 

 Acacia arabica. — .BAR.BARY. The gum 

 of Acacia gummifera. —, BASSORA. A 

 gum whose origin is unknown ; it is sup- 

 posed to be the produce of a Cactus or a 

 Mi ■'.<> mhryanthemum. —, BLACK-BOY, or 

 BOTANY-BAY. A fragrant resinous pro- 

 duct of Xanthorrhcea arborea or hastilis. 

 — , BRITISH. A preparation of roasted 

 starch. — , BUTEA. Bengal Kino, the 



: gum-resin of Butea frondosa and superba. 



I — , CAPE. The gum of Acacia Karroo or 



