Pantagruelion has two sexes; the male bears no flower but abounds in seeds.
Notes
cannabis
Cannabis sativa
Zamer Hanff
De historia stirpium commentarii insignes…
Basil: In Officina Isingriniana, 1542
Smithsonian Library
pantagruelion masle et femelle
Rabelais commet ici une confusion grave : le Cannabis sativa est une plante dioïque, à pieds mâle et femelles distincts ; le fruit, fécondé par le pollen des fleures mâles, ne peut éviedmment naître que du pied femelle. Mais l’erreur popilaire, partagée par Gesner, Fuchs, Dalechamps, Dodoens, Lonicer, considérait comme mâle la plante porte-graine, plus luxuriante ; comme femelle la plante plus grêle à fleurs pistillées, non suivies de fruits, et qui dépérit la première. (Paul Delaunay)
Oeuvres. Tome Cinquieme: Tiers Livre
Abel Lefranc [1863-1952], editor
Paris: Librairie Ancienne Honoré Champion, 1931
Archive.org
mercury [male and female]
[Regarding the former designation of male and female plants by their robustness and not their seed production]
The euphorbiaceous plant Mercurialis annua. Also baron’s, boy’s, French, garden, girl’s, maiden mercury. According to Britten and Holland, the baron’s or boy’s is the female and the girl’s the male mercury.
1578 Henry Lyte, tr. Dodoens’ Niewe herball or historie of plantes i. lii. 75 The male garden Mercury, or the French Mercury.
1578 Lyte Dodoens 78 Phyllon… The male is called a’rrenogo´non, whiche may be Englished Barons Mercury or Phyllon, or Boyes Mercury or Phyllon. And the female is called in Greeke qhlugo´non: and this kinde may be called in English Gyrles Phyllon or Mercury, Daughters Phyllon, or Mayden Mercury.
1601 R. Chester Love’s Mart., etc. (N. Shakespeare Soc.) 82 Sweete Sugar Canes, Sinkefoile, and boies Mercurie.