A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

Gemma,-ae (s.f.I), abl. sg. gemma, nom.pl. gemmae, acc.pl. gemmas, dat. & abl.pl. gemmis: the bud, eye or gem on a plant; a precious stone, a jewel; “a leaf-bud” (Lindley); (in plural) “small reproductive bodies found in some Liverworts, and regarded as being analogous to leaf-buds” (Lindley); “1. a young bud, either of flower or leaf, as used by Ray; 2. an asexual product of some Cryptogams, as in the Hepaticae, analogous to leaf-buds” (Jackson); “a bud or body analogous to a bud by which some plants propagate themselves” (Fernald 1950); gemma, a brood-body, a bud, eye; lit. ‘bud,’ although the term may apply generally to any tissue or organ of vegetative reproduction, in mosses it refers to a generally few-celled body that is septate and globose, ellipsoidal, cylindric to filamentous in shape, as opposed to a propagulum,-i (s.n.II) which is a reduced bud, leaf or branch; (in bryophytes) “uni- or multicellular, filamentous, globose, ellipsoidal, cylindrical, stellate or discoid brood bodies, relatively undifferentiated, serving in vegetative reproduction” (Magill 1990); (fungi) “a chlamydospore, esp. of a phycomycete” (Ainsworth & Bisby); “an asexual, budlike, reproductive structure; also, a type of reproductive cell or sporelike structure, resembling a chlamydospore” (S&D) [> L. gemma,-ae (s.f.I), a bud, eye or gem on a plant; (from the resemblance to buds in shape and color) a precious stone, esp. one already cut, a jewel, gem (opp. lapillus, one that is opaque); a pearl (Lewis & Short)]; see brood body, propagulum; a gemma is also a gonidium,-ii (s.n.II), q.v.; also a precious (esp. cut) stone, jewel, gem(stone); see diaspore, disseminule; see bud; see gem;

- Gemmas appello Arborum & Fruticum foetus [nom.pl.] novellos, quos quotannis, ut dixi, aestate pariunt, squammosis tegumentis velut fecundis obvolutos, in quibus per totam 'hyemem latitant,adverfus aeris injurias securi (Ray), I call [i.e.designate] the young fetuses the ‘gemmae’ [i.e. ‘buds’] of trees and shrubs, which every year [i.e. annually], as I have said, they bring forth in summer, enveloped by scaley [i.e. ‘large-scaled] integuments just as if fertile, in which they lay secure [i.e. hidden] throughout the entire winter, safe from the adverse injuries of the air [i.e. atmosphere].

“The bud, (gemma) is that part of a plant which contains the embryo of the leaves and flower*. All plants are not furnished with buds, but only such as grow in cold climates. They either inclose leaves alone, (gemmae foliiferae) ; or leaves and flowers in separate buds, (gemmae foliiferae et gemmae floriferae distinctae); or leaves and female flowers, (gemmae foliiferae et gemmae floriferae femmineae) ; or leaves and male flowers, (gemmae foliiferae et gemmae floriferae masculae): or leaves and hermaphrodite flowers, (gemmae foliiferae et floriferae hermaphrodltae) : or lastly, leaves and flowers in one bud, (gemmae foliifero-floriferae). The opening of the buds, and the appearance of the leaves, is called Foliation, (foliatio,-onis (s.f.III), abl. sg. foliatione)” (Willdenow).

- gemmae asexuales vulgares nunc tubera sphaerica rhizoidalia nunc caules moniliformes rhizoidales nunc tubera caulina nunc bulbili axis foliaris, asexual gemmae common now shaerical rhizoidal tubers, now moniliform rhizoidal stems, now cauline tubers now bulbils of the leaf axil.

- gemmae e cellulis 10-20 compositae, in solo in funiculis brevibus, gemmae composed of 10-20 cells, on soil on short funiculi.

- gemmis primordio foliaceo late laminato praeditis, gemmae provided with a leaf primordium broadly laminate.

- gemmae foliis primordialibus praeditae, gemmae provided with primordial leaves.

- gemma succina, an amber jewel.

- gemmas et lapides, gems and jewels.

- racemi compositi, penduli, velut folia pinnatisecta e gemma terminali squamosa primo vere erumpentia (B&H), racemes compound, pendulous,j ust as the pinnatisect leaves breaking out from a scaley terminal bud in early spring.

- folia alterna, 4-terna ex eadem gemma, pinnata (Swartz), leaves alternate, in four sets of three from the same bud, pinnate.

- gemmae magnis globosae aut oblongae, squammosae (DeCandolle), the buds large, globose, or oblong, scaly.

- gemmis foliaceis axillaribus (DeCandolle), gemmae leafy axillary [with axillary leafy buds].

Gemma,-ae (s.f.I) floriferae (adj.A): “buds which produce flowers; flower-buds” (Lindley).

Gemma,-ae (s.f.I) foliifera, nom. pl. femmae foliiferae: buds that produce leaves; “leaf-buds” (Jackson).

Gemmae (pl.f.I) innovantes, abl. pl. gemmis innovantibus: “the fixed or persistent buds of mosses” (Lindley).

Gemmaecorm, gemmicorm, “J. Smith’s term for a bud-corm, applied to herbaceous plants with a root-vrown which increases by side-buds” (Jackson): gemmicormus,-i (s.m.II), abl. sg. gemmicormo.

Leaf-bud: “buds from which leaves only are produced: they are called normal when produced at the axils, adventitious when they occur in places not axillary, and latent when they are undiscoverable by the naked eye” (Lindley): gemma,-ae (s.f.I) normalis (adj.B); gemma adventiva (adj.B); gemma latens (part.B), gen.sg. gemmae latentis.

NOTE: Gonidium,-ii (s.n.II), abl. sg. gonidio, in mosses, once used of gemmae.

Gemma-cup: scyphulus,-i (s.m.II), abl. sg. scyphulo (Stearn); cyathus,-i (s.m.II), abl. sg. cyatho (Jackson); “the genus Cyathus of the Nidulariaceae” (S&D).

NOTE: in mosses and liverworts the gemma cup is a “cup-shaped, gemmae-containing structure of thalline (Marchantia) or foliar (Tetraphis) origin, presumably structured to aid in distribution of gemmae by water splash” (Magill 1990); cf. splash-cup. The Latin word for both the gemma-cup and splash-cup is scyphulus,-i (s.m.II) (Magill 1990).

Orygoma,-atis (s.n.II), abl. sg. orygomate: (as origoma,-atis (s.n.II)) “(obsol.) the cup of a Marchantia [liverwort], containing its propagating bulbils” (Lindley); (as orygoma,-atis (s.n.II) “Necker’s term for the cup of a Marchantia, containing gemmae” (Jackson)

Splash-cup, in mosses and liverworts: “any cup-shaped structure that functions as an aid in the distribution of spermatozoids or gemmae by water splash; e.g. Polytrichum, Marchantia, Lunularia” (Magill 1990); cyathus,-i (s.m.II), abl. sg. cyatho, the cup-like body, which contains propagula in Marchantia.