Dracana?\ LUiaceCB. 287 



3. DRACSNA, Linti. 

 Trees or shrubs, sometimes dwarf with prostrate stems; 

 1. alt., crowded at the ends of the trunk or branches, petioled, 

 lanceolate; fl. in terminal panicles, white, bracts small; 

 perianth superior, tubular, 6-cleft, lobes spreading and re- 

 curved ; stam. 6, inserted at the base of the per.-tube or of its 

 lobes, fil. elongate, anth. versatile; ov. 3-celled, cells i-ovuled, 

 style filiform, stigma capitate, ovules erect, anatropous; berry 

 globose or 2-3-dymous, seeds globose or angled, testa coria- 

 ceous, embryo small in horny endosperm. — Sp. about 35; 15 

 in Fl. B. Ind. 



Cordyline ter7ninalis^ Kunth {D. ierminalis, Moon), a tall Draccetia- 

 like plant, common in India and the East, is frequently grown in Ceylon 

 gardens, &c. 



D. Thwaitesii, Regelin Act. Hort. Petrop. i. 144 (1871). 



D. elliptica, Thunb. Diss. 6 (1808) (in part); Thw. Enum. 338. Baker 

 in Journ. Linn. Soc. xiv. 533. C. P. 2293. 



Fl. B. Ind. vi. 329 {D. temiflora, Roxb., var. (?) Thwaitesii). Wight, 

 Ic. t. 2054 {Draccena terminalis). 



Roots long, unbranched, rather stout; stem \\-2\ ft., erect, 

 stout, sparingly branched, woody and naked below; 1. rather 

 crowded in the upper part of the stem, alt., 7-9 in., narrowly 

 oblong-lanceolate, acuminate with a filiform point, pale green 

 on both surfaces; costa distinct, veins very close, slender, 

 petiole rather long, base sheathing; infl. a terminal narrow 

 panicle, 2-4 in. long; ped. very short, stout; bracteoles ovate, 

 acuminate, half as long as the short stout pedicels; perianth- 

 tube \ in. long, lobes as long, linear-oblong, obtuse; fil. half as 

 long as the lobes, anth. linear-oblong; fr. 2-3-dymous, carpels 

 pisiform. 



Moist region in forests up to 4000 ft.; rather common. Fl. May; 

 pale green or yellowish, berries bright orange-coloured, translucent. 



Also in Travancore. 



In Fl. Brit. Ind. I have referred this doubtfully, as a variety, to the 

 widely distributed Indian D. terniflora; as, however, Dr. Trimen con- 

 sidered it to be distinct from that plant, probably rightly (he is supported 

 by Regel and Baker, and has seen living specimens), I follow suit. I 

 think it is certainly the same as a Courtallam plant collected by Wight, 

 which he took for Cordyline terminalis., and figured as such. Wight 

 gives Courtallam and Quilon as habitats, adding, ' perhaps in both 

 instances the outcast of gardens.' I suspect that Wight was misled by 

 the belief that he was dealing with the common cultivated Malayan 

 Cordyline terminalis into suspecting that D. Thwaitesii was an introduced 

 plant. There are Courtallam specimens in Wight's Herb., but no Ouilon 

 ones. The shortness of the perianth is its best character. — J. D. H. 



