Tas. 6523. 
DRACONTIUM Carpert. 
Native of the United States of Columbia. 
Nat. Ord. AnorprEm—Tribe Lasro1pER,. 
Genus Dracontivm, Linn. ; (Engler in A. DO. Monog. Phanerog. vol. ii. p. 282.) 
Dracontium Carderi; petiolo gracili levi glaberrimo marmorato, lamina viridi 
3-partita segmento medio 2-fido lateralibus indivisis v. 2-fidis, omnibus pallide 
viridibus infra medium pinnati-partitis supra medium _pinnatifidis, pinnis 
lobisque membranaceis multinerviis circumscriptione valde irregularibus aliis 
elliptico-ovatis oblongisve acutis equi- v. inequilateris, aliis majoribus irregu- 
lariter lobulatis v. rarius pertusis, pedunculo gracili stricto folio duplo longiore 
levi glaberrimo, spatha pedali lanceolata acuminata extus luride viridi costis 
fusco-rubris, intus rubro-purpurea, spadice 14-pollicari breviter crasse stipitato 
cylindraceo obtuso violaceo, perianthii foliolis 5 spathulatis apice incrassatis 
fornicatis cucullatis, staminibus ad 8, ovario 3-loculari loculis 1-ovulatis in stigma 
equilongum robustum attenuato, stigmate punctiforme, ovulis basilaribus erectis. 
The genus Dracontium, as restricted by Engler in his recent 
monograph of the Aroidee, includes the wonderful Godwinia 
Gigas (tab. nostr. 6048), of Nicaragua, and consists of 
this and two other species, natives of N. Brazil and Guiana ; 
to these must be added the subject of the present plate, 
which extends the geographical range of the genus to the 
United States of Columbia, and which differs from its con- 
geners in the smooth petiole and very long peduncle. A sup- 
posed fifth species has been fully and carefully described and 
figured by Dr. Masters in the Gardeners’ Chronicle for 1870 
(p. 344, tab. 58) as D. elatum, which differs from Engler’s 
generic character in the ovules being attached to the 
middle of the septum of the ovary, a character by which 
Schott separated Ophione from Wracontiwm, very unna- 
: _turally as it appears tome. This D. elatwm is taken up in 
the index of Engler’s monograph, where the name is 
printed in italic type, indicating its being a synonym; but 
the reference to a page is omitted, and I have failed to 
to trace it anywhere in the body of the work. Mr. Baker, 
NOVEMBER Ist, 1880. 
