Trousset encyclopedia

GNU s. Species of large antelopes that live in the southern and central plains of Africa, and which are sometimes classified as Bovidae or oxen, of the genus catoblepas (H. Smith) or connochetes (Gray); it is the wilde beest of Cape Town dutch settlers. The gnu is one of the strangest animals; it has the head and horns of a buffalo, the body and mane of a horse and the limbs of an antelope. The main color of the common species (catoblepas gnu, H. Smith) is a tawny brown, darker on the back and legs. The gnu, although heavy in appearance, is very fast and …Read more »

GORDONIA s. (After Gordon, the name of a famous Scottish family). Bot. genus of trees and shrubs of cammalliaceae family, which includes …Read more »

IGUANA s. ( Carib yana). Herpet. genus of saurians, which includes three or four species of great lizards that inhabit Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Martinique, and whose …Read more »

GONDOLA s. (Lat. gondola). Small, flat and very long boat which is particularly used in Venice, as means of transportation over canals, and which can only be …Read more »

GINSENG s. Bot. Shrub, genus aralia, which grows in Tartary and Canada, and whose root, called the same name, is invigorating and stimulating: experience has not confirmed in Europe the wonderful properties with which …Read more »

GERANIUM s. (gr. geranos, crane). Bot. genus of geraniaceae, which includes approximately 70 species of herbaceous plants, cultivated for the most part in pleasure gardens, and remarkable by the shape of the seed-head, which looks like the bill of a crane.
– The name geranium is commonly attributed to plants of the genus pelargonium.
– The main French species are: the hedgerow cranesbill (geranium Pyrenaicum), with purple or light crimson flowers; the shining geranium (geranium lucidum), glabrous, with pink flowers; the round-leaved cranesbill (geranium rotundifolia), with a pubescent calyx; the bloody cranesbill (geranium sanguineum), one of the most beautiful …Read more »

GROSBEAK. s. Ornith. Genus of conirostres passerine birds, which still has to be clearly defined and includes a great number of species with a short, right, conical, very large and pointed bill. In the linnaean classification, the grosbeak or hawfinch belongs to the broad fringilla genus. These birds are to be found all over the known world. The common European grosbeak (coccothraustes vulgaris, Briss.), widespread in all Europe, is rather rare in France. It is approximately 16 cm (6.3 inches) long, and has a wingspread of 25 cm (9.84 inches). It feeds on seeds of various trees (hornbeam, plane tree, pine), on cherries, on hawthorn seeds, on laurel berries and, in the summer, on what is available in gardens, particularly green peas and buds. Its call is pleasant, but plaintive. It can live in couples in our wooded mountains or it can be solitary; in the winter, it flies down to the plains. The female lays from three to five eggs of an ashen white colour …Read more »