| + | Gerardia (after John Gerarde, 1545-1607, perhaps the most popular of the herbalists). Scrophulariaceae. Hardy annual and perennial herbs, all American, and mostly of the Atlantic states, with yellow or rosy purple flowers, in late summer and autumn, the later color rarely varying to white. |
| + | Leaves mainly opposite: calyx 5-toothed or cleft; corolla bell- to funnel-shaped, broad-throated, 5-parted, the 2 posterior lobes often smaller and more united; stamens commonly more or less hairy; anthers more or less approximate in pairs: caps, globose, 2-grooved; seeds usually angled, loose-coated. The first 3 species described below belong to a section in which the roots are more or less saprophytic; by some, and probably correctly, they are considered as belonging to the genus Dasystoma. These plants are therefore rather difficult to cultivate, and are offered only by collectors. G. tenuifolia is offered by one dealer, the seeds presumably gathered in European gardens. |
| '''''Gerardia '''''L. ([[synonymy|syn.]] ''Stenandrium'', Greek, narrow anthers). Acanthaceae. Nearly stemless or short-stemmed herbs, frequently villous or pubescent, adapted to the warm- or coolhouse: lvs. often radical or clustered at the base of the st., very entire: spikes scape-like, peduncled, dense or interrupted: fls. usually small at the axils of the opposite bracts, solitary, sessile, spicate; calyx 5-parted, segms. narrow, acute; corolla-tube slender, cylindrical, limb oblique, 5-lobed, lobes obovate, retuse; stamens 4, didynamous: caps. oblong or subfusiform, subterete, 4-seeded or by abortion fewer-seeded.—About 30 species, Trop. and Subtrop. Amer. | | '''''Gerardia '''''L. ([[synonymy|syn.]] ''Stenandrium'', Greek, narrow anthers). Acanthaceae. Nearly stemless or short-stemmed herbs, frequently villous or pubescent, adapted to the warm- or coolhouse: lvs. often radical or clustered at the base of the st., very entire: spikes scape-like, peduncled, dense or interrupted: fls. usually small at the axils of the opposite bracts, solitary, sessile, spicate; calyx 5-parted, segms. narrow, acute; corolla-tube slender, cylindrical, limb oblique, 5-lobed, lobes obovate, retuse; stamens 4, didynamous: caps. oblong or subfusiform, subterete, 4-seeded or by abortion fewer-seeded.—About 30 species, Trop. and Subtrop. Amer. |