GLOSSARY OF BOTANICAL TERMS 



15 



Gamophyllous : Having the leaves more 

 or less united. (Fig. 19.) 



Gamosepalous: Having the sepals more 

 or less united. 



Gen.: Genus, genera. 



Generic: Of or pertaining to a genus. 



Genetics: The science of plant or ani- 

 mal breeding. The branch of biol- 

 ogy dealing with heredity and all its 

 phases. 



Geniculate: Kneelike; bent like a 

 knee; said of stems, the awns of 

 needle grass (Stipa), etc. (Fig. 33, 



Genus (pi. -era) : A group of related 

 species showing similar character- 

 istics and appearing to have a com- 

 mon ancestry. Thus, white pine, 

 yellow pine, sugar pine, and the va- 

 rious other pines are species com- 

 prised in the genus Pinus, which in 

 turn is included in the family 

 Pinacese. 



Geotropism : The growth response of a 

 plant or its parts to gravity; said 

 especially of roots. Stems or other 

 aerial portions of the plant are some- 

 times said to exhibit negative geo- 

 tropism. 



Gibbous: Humped or swollen on one 

 side ; as, for example, the calyx of a 

 lupine. 



Glabrate: Becoming glabrous, or nearly 

 so, in age. 



Glabrous: Devoid of hairs or pubes- 

 ence ; smooth in the sense of absence 

 of all hairiness; literally bald. 



Gland: A secreting or excretory part 

 or organ. Plant glands are usually 

 small and are often in the form of 

 glandular hairs. 



Glandular: Pertaining to or possessing 

 glands. Viscid (sticky) plants are 

 familiar examples of glandularity. 



Glans: The nut of an acorn, as distin- 

 guished from the cup. 



Glaucous: Covered with a bluish or 

 whitish bloom, i. e., a sort of fine 

 waxen powder that may be removed 

 by friction or heat and tends more 

 or less to reduce transpiration, as in 

 a cabbage leaf or on a fresh plum. 

 Moderately pruinose. 



Globose: Shaped like a globe ; spherical 

 or approximately so and round in 

 cross section. 



Glochidiate: Barb tipped; having the 

 apex furnished with twin, sharp, 

 small, reflexed points like a minia- 

 ture arrowhead. (Fig. 10, A.) 



Glomerate: Crowded, congested, dense 

 (said especially of flower and fruit 

 clusters). Thus, if the rays, pedun- 

 cles, or branches of an umbel, cyme, 

 or corymb become shortened the in- 

 florescence tends to become glomer- 



Figure 33. — Spike- 

 let of green nee- 

 dle grass (Stipa 

 viridula) :a, 

 (Genicula te) 

 awn ; b, lemma ; 



c, second glume ; 



d, first glume 



ate, and approaching capitate or 



headlike. 

 Glumes: The two lowest chaffy bracts 



of a grass spikelet, which are empty, 



i. e., do not bear stamens or pistils 



in their axils. (Figs. 39, A, a, b; 



B, e, e, and 68, A, 



g, h.) The lower 



one is known as 



thefirst glume and 



the upper one as 



the second glume. 



(Fig. 33, d and c, 



respectively.) 

 Glutinous: Gluelike 



or gummy ; said 



especially of exu- 



dations and 



glands. 

 Grass : A member 



of the natural bo- 

 tanical family 

 Poacese ( Grami- 



neae). Grasses 



are ordinarily 



perennial or an- 

 nual herbs, but 

 certain species 



(notably of the 



Bamboo tribe) 



have more or less 

 woody stems, some 

 cent (treelike). 



(culmns) are rounded and mostly 

 hollow except at the joints (nodes). 

 The leaves are 2-ranked (distich- 

 ous) with a sheath and ligule. 



(Fig. 37, d, c.) The inflores- 

 cence is composed of spikelets. 



(Figs. 33, 39, and 68.) The fruit is 

 a grain (caryopsis). Grasses are by 

 far the most valuable of all plant 

 families to man, including as they do 

 the grains, the canes, bamboos, and 

 a vast host of pasture, hay, and 

 other plants of outstanding economic 

 importance. Grasses comprise one 

 of the four main groups into which 

 our native forage plants are cus- 

 tomarily divided, the others being 

 grasslike plants, weeds, and browse. 

 Grasslike plants (the water grasses of 

 the stockman) : Plants which re- 

 semble true grasses (Poacese, or 

 Graminese) superficially but which 

 do not belong to that family and, as 

 a rule, are inferior thereto as forage 

 plants. One of the four main 

 groups into which our native forage 

 plants are ordinarily divided. The 

 most characteristic grasslike plants 

 are sedges (members of the 

 Cyperacese, or sedge family) and 

 rushes (genera Juncoides and Juncus 

 of the Juncacese, rush family).. The 

 inflorescence of rushes has a 6-parted 



being 

 The 



arbores- 

 stems 



