coming indurated into wood. Thus it resembles the 
callus that is formed in the union of broken bones. 
Frond. — The frond is to be regarded as an union or incorpo- 
ration of leaf, leaf-stalk, and branch, or stipe, form- 
ing as it were but one organ, of which the consti- 
tuent parts do not separate spontaneously from one - 
another by means of the fracture of any natural joint, 
as in the case of real leaves, but adhere together even 
in their decay. It is exemplified in the tribe of Ferns. 
Frondescence. — The leafing of plants was denominated by 
Linnaeus, their frondescenee. 
Fruit. — In the progress of fructification, when the several or- 
gans of the flower have discharged their respective 
functions, the petals, the stamens, the style, and often 
also the calyx, wither and fall. The ovary alone, 
remains attached to the plant, and swells and expands 
till it reaches maturity. It is now denominated the 
fruit. In popular language it is confined chiefly to 
such fruits as are esculent, as the Apple, the Peach, 
and the Cherry, but with the botanist, the matured 
ovary of every flower, together with the parts con- 
tained, constitutes the fruit. 
Frutex. — If a woody plant begins to send up its branches im- 
mediately from the surface of the soil, without attain- 
ing to any great height, and without a main stem, it 
is designated by the term frutex, which signifies a 
shrub. 
Funiculus. — If the ovulum is attached to the placenta by 
means of a small thread, that, thread is called the fu- 
niculus umbilicalis , or the umbilical cord. 
Funnel-shaped. — Funnel-shaped, or infundibuliform, having 
a conical border rising from a tube, as in Nicotiana 
Tabacum. 
Furrowed. — Having several linear depressions. 
Gangrene. — Of this disorder there are two varieties, the wet 
and the dry. In the wet gangrene the diseased part be- 
comes first soft and moist, and then dissolves into a 
foul ichor. It is confined chiefly to leaves, flowers, and 
fruit. It may arise from too wet or from too rich a 
soil, or it may originate in contusion, as in the case of 
Peaches and Apricots. The dry gangrene attacks the 
leaves and young shoots, causing them to shrink and 
to shrivel up, and converting them from green to I 
black. It may be occasioned by excessive heat, or by 
excessive cold, as in the case of young potatoe-tops 
nipt by morning frosts ; or it may be caused by the 
too rapid growth of a particular branch, or by means 
of the attacks of parasitical fungi, as in case of the 
bulbs of saffron, which are often infested by a species 
of Lycoperdon, that totally destroys them. 
Gaps. — Gaps, according to Mirbel, are empty, but often regu- 
lar and symmetrical spaces formed in the interior of 
the plant by means of a partial disruption of the 
membrane constituting the tubes or cells. They are 
equivalent to what Kiesser calls air cells. 
Gems. — Gems, from the Latin term gemma a bud, are organized 
productions issuing from the surface of the plant, and 
containing the rudiments of new and additional parts 
which they protrude, or of new individuals which 
they constitute, by detaching themselves ultimately 
from the parent plant, and fixing themselves in the 
soil. According to Gasrtner they are of two sorts, 
simple and compound, — simple, if furnished with 
only one envelope, — compound, if furnished with two 
or more envelopes. The latter includes the bud and 
bulb ; the former the Propago and Gongilus, equiva- 
lent to the spores or sporules of modern botanists. 
Genera. — What species are to individuals, genera are to spe- 
cies. A species is a group of individuals connected 
together by certain obvious and unequivocal resem- 
blances in the form and structure of their several or- 
gans, but differing, by some striking and peculiar 
trait, from all the other groups of allied individuals 
that may happen to belong to the same genus. Thus 
Primula elatior is distinguished from Primula veris, 
merely by a peculiarity that occurs 'in the border of the 
corolla. In the former the border is flat, in the latter 
it is concave. A genus is a group of species con- 
nected together by certain obvious and unequivocal 
resemblances in the form and structure of their seve- 
ral parts or organs, but differing, by some striking 
and peculiar trait, from all the other groups of allied 
species that may happen to belong to the same order. 
Thus the genus Malva admits only such species of 
Malvaceae as have the exterior calyx trisepalous; ex- 
cluding all such as have it merely three-cleft, which 
it assigns to Lavatera. Yet the' limits of genera are 
not so well defined as those of species. Hence it has 
been generally held that species are absolutely and 
indubitably the work of nature; while genera and the 
higher divisions have been regarded by many as being 
merely conventional groups instituted for the purpose 
of facilitating arrangement. Still the resemblance 
must be close and striking. Tournefort was the first 
to construct and exhibit good and legitimate models of 
generic grouping. Linnaeus improved upon the prin- 
ciples of Tournefort, and laid down a number of va- 
luable rules for the construction of genera, drawing 
his characters from the fructification only, — an ex- 
ample which modern botanists have pretty generally 
followed, or departed from only in some rare cases, 
admitting that the character does not form the genus, 
but the genus the character. Philos. But. 119. 
Geniculated. — Expressive of parts bent like a knee. 
Germ — The embryo of the seed is sometimes called the germ 
of the seed; and the plural of the term was used for- 
merly by Duhamet, to signify those latent and rudi- 
mentary molecules which he regarded as being dis- 
persed throughout the whole of the plant, for the 
purpose of giving origin to buds, whether of root or 
of branch, wherever buds were wanted, and which he 
denominated pre-organized germs. 
Germen. — This term which was introduced by Linnaeus, seems 
to be now superseded by that of the term ovary, the 
base of which it was intended to designate. 
Gibbous.— W hen both parts of a side are convex. 
Gills. — The under surface of the pileus of the Fungi is fur- 
nished for the most part, with a number of thin and flat 
laminae, which are attached to it at the one edge, 
and distributed like the radii of a circle. They are 
designated by the name of the gills. Sometimes they 
are inserted separately, and sometimes in pairs or 
sets, and sometimes they inosculate and grow into one 
another. They assume different shades of colour in 
different species, but in Agaricus campestris, they are 
of a beautiful pink. Of Fungi not having gills, some 
are furnished with a multitude of pores or tubes, as in 
Boletus, or with prickles, as in Hydnum. 
Glabrous. — Applied to stems and leaves, when shining and 
perfectly smooth. 
Glands. — Glands are small and minute productions of various 
different forms, found chiefly on the surface of the leaf 
and petiole, but often also on the other parts of the 
plant, and supposed to be organs of secretion. 
Glans. — The glans is a one-celled, mostly one-seeded, and in- 
dehiscent fruit or pericarp, seated in a sort of involucre 
called a cupule. Sometimes it is single, and partially 
naked, as in the acorn of the oak, and sometimes it is 
duplicate, and completely enclosed in the cupule, as in 
beech-mast, or sweet chestnut. 
Glaucous. — Being of a sea-green shade in colour. 
Globose. — Of a rounded or globular form. 
Glume. — Glume is the chaffy and membranaceous calyx of the 
grasses. 
Gongylus. — The Gongylus, according to Gaertner, is a simple 
gem, or reproductive granule, peculiar to some tribes 
