Bearing or producing gems or buds; something that creates or yields gemstones or gem-like structures.
From Latin gemma (bud, precious stone) + -ferous (bearing or producing, from ferre meaning 'to carry'). The suffix -ferous is used in scientific terminology to indicate something that bears or contains something else.
This word was especially popular in Victorian scientific writing when naturalists were describing minerals and plants that produced beautiful crystalline structures or buds, blending geology with botany in a single term.
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