5-59 



Ci)£ Eica^urg af SSatang. 



[gyivin 



is otherwise nearly related. On the whole, 

 it seems to belong to Selaginacece, though 

 differing remarkably from the other genera 

 of the order. [W. CJ 



GYMNANTHERA. A genus of Asclepia- 

 dacece, containing a single species from 

 New Holland, a twining glabrous shrub 

 with milky juice, opposite leaves, and 

 whitish-green flowers on lateral peduncles, 

 having a salver-shaped corolla, and a stami- 

 na] crown of five awned scales inserted at 

 the summit of the tube and alternating 

 with the corolla lobes. The capsule is 

 cylindrical divaricate, and containing 

 many comose seeds. [W. C] 



GYMNOBALANFS. Tropical American 



trees, constituting a genus of Lauracece, 



and known by the following characters :— 



The perianth in both male and female 



■ flowers is divided into six nearly equal 



j segments, and is deciduous ; the male flow- 



i ers have nine stamens in three rows, the 



j inner row bearing sessile glands, a long 



| style, and an abortive ovary : the females 



nine sterile stamens, a one-celled ovary, 



and a short style. The fruit is succulent, 



on a thickened flower-stalk. [M. T. MJ 



&YMNOCARPIUM. Polypodium. 



GYUNOCIDirM. The swelling occa- 

 sionally found at the base of the spore- 

 case of urn-mosses. 



6YMH0CLADTJS. A large American tree, 

 G. canadensis, called the Kentucky Cof- 

 fee-tree, is the sole representative of this 

 genus of leguminous plants. It is common 

 throughout the Northern United States, 

 and in Canada, where it is called Chicot ; 

 and is frequently cultivated, either as an 

 ornamental tree, or for its timber, which is 

 strong and of a compact fine grain, and 

 used for building purposes, common cabi- 

 net-making, &c. It attains a height of 

 fifty or sixty feet, the trunk being fre- 

 quently destitute of branches for the first 

 thirty feet, but seldom more than twelve 

 or fifteen inches in diameter. Its leaves 

 are twice pinnate, and sometimes as much 

 as three feet in length, consisting of a 

 main stalk with several pairs of secondary 

 stalks bearing numerous oral dull-green 

 | leaflets, except the lowest pair, which have 

 a single leaflet. The flowers are whitish 

 and borne in racemes from the angles of 

 i the leaves, the separate sexes being on 

 , different trees ; their calyx is tubular and 

 I \ five-cleft, and the corolla of five equal- 

 1 ; sized petals inserted into the top of the 

 calyx tube, along with the ten short dis- 

 . tinct stamens. The fruit is a hard flat- 

 < tened pod, from six to ten inches long, 

 j ; containing several flattish seeds imbedded 

 [ \ in a mass of pulp. The common American 

 I \ name of this tree was given to it in conse- 

 ! '' quence of the early settlers in Kentucky 

 j | having made use of its seeds as a substitute 

 for coffee, at a time when they could not 



procure the genuine article. The rough 

 bark of the tree is excessively bitter, and 

 contains saponine, a substance which, like 

 soap, forms a lather in water. fA. S.] 



GYMNOGENS, or GYMNOSPERMS. Na- 

 ked-seeded plants, forming a division of 

 dicotyledons or Exogens considered by 

 Lindley as a distinct class. It includes 

 the ConifevtB or pines and firs, Taxncem 

 or yews, Ghietacece or joint-firs, and Gy- 

 cadaccce or cycads These orders are usual- 

 ly called naked-seeded because there is no 

 proper ovary, the seeds being fertilised by 

 the pollen coming into direct contact with 

 the foramen of the ovule without the in- 

 tervention of a stigma. Some authors 

 have of late doubted the correctness of 

 this statement, and have considered the 

 so-called seeds as a bicarpellary ovary 

 containing one seed. Gymnospermous 

 plants are represented largely in the fossil 

 flora of the secondary strata. [J. H. B.] 



GYMNOGRAMMA. A genus of poly- 

 podiaceous ferns, having free forked veins 

 I and linear sori which are more or less fre- 

 i quently forked— that is to say, the spore- 

 | cases, being distributed along a portion of 

 S the veins, are continued both above and 

 ] below the points where the veins fork. 

 j The sori in some species are very much 

 I elongated, and form contiguous narrow 

 lines over a great portion of the fertile 

 fronds. In other species the under surface, 

 and sometimes also the upper, is farinosely 

 ceraceous, and usually either of a white 

 or yellow colour, these being the Gold 

 and Silver Ferns so frequently seen in 

 cultivation on account of the beauty of 

 their coloured fronds. This genus con- 

 | tains two of the very few known annual 

 [ ferns, G. chcerophylla and G. leptophylla, the 

 i flrst a "West Indian plant, the second scat- 

 ! tered over nearly the whole of the tempe- 

 | rate regions of the globe from Jersey to 

 | New Zealand, and found also in the Neil- 

 gherries and Cuba. The other species are 

 widely dispersed, but chiefly found in tro- 

 pical countries. [T. MJ 



GYMNOGYNE cotuloides, which is the 

 only known species of the genus, is a slen- 

 der composite annual weed, peculiar to 

 West Australia. Its unbranched stems, 

 furnished with grassy leaves, are termi- 

 nated by a single flower-head the size of a 

 pea, and somewhat like those of Cotula. 

 The outer florets are female and destitute 

 of corolla (whence the name); and the inner 

 male, with a tubular four-toothed corolla, 

 and free anthers. The genus is related to 

 Euphrosyne, differing in the many series 

 of female florets, the four-toothed males, 

 and the imbricated achenes. [A. A. B.] 



GYMNOGYNOUS. Having a naked ovary. 



GYMNOMESIUM. A genus differing but 

 little from Arum, except in the presence of 



I rudimentary flowers above the stamens, 

 and not elsewhere. The ovaries contain 

 several ovules. G. pictum is frequently 



i met with in gardens under its former 

 name of Arum. It is a native of Corsica, | 

 Sardinia, &c. [M. T. MJ 



GYMNOPETALUM. The name of a genus j 

 i of Cucurbitaceie, allied to Bryonia, and | 

 i having a calyx with a contracted throat. • 



