D R A 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



D R A 



a great crop of this little weed, which some say is much liked 

 by sheep. Gerarde calls it tchiteblowe, or whitlowe-grdsse, 

 or naile-woort. This small plant may serve as an index of the 

 difference of climates ; for in Sweden it flowers in the month 

 of April; in Germany a month earlier ; in England, Holland, 

 and France, in February ; while in the genial air of Sicily it- 

 flowers throughout the winter. 



5. Draba Pyrenaica. Scape naked ; leaves wedge-shaped, 

 palmate, three-lobed. It is a perennial plant, seldom more 

 than two inches high, with a shrubby stalk dividing into 

 many small heads ; leaves small, the lower ones have five 

 short narrow lobes, the upper have but three ; the flowers 

 i oine out in clusters, sitting close to the leaves, they are of a 

 pale purple colour, and appear early in the spring ; root 

 creeping, putting out erect branching shoots, which at the 

 end bear thick, shining, stiffish.spreadingleaves, half-three- 

 lobed, narrowed at the base into a sort of half-embracing 

 erect petiole, marked with three lines ; the lobes spreading 

 oblong, sharpish, ciliate at the tip, and interruptedly on the 

 edge. Native of tha mountains of Switzerland in the canton 

 of Appenzel, Provence, Carniola, Austria, and Piedmont ; 

 flowering in May. This decorates the loftiest mountains of 

 Europe with its pale purple diminutive flowers, in the spring 

 and early summer, and vies with the neighbouring Androsaces 

 and Aretise in beauty. 



6. Draba Muralis ; Wall Whitlow Grass. Stem branched ; 

 leaves ovate, sessile, toothed. Rootannual; root-leaves en- 

 tire at the base, toothed upwards; stem-leaves rather heart- 

 shaped ; fruit-bearing peduncles horizontal, longer than the 

 silicles; corollas pale yellow, or white, withthepetalsslightly 

 emarginate ; silicles exactly elliptic, ending in a short blunt 

 knob ; seeds reddish-brown. It rises with an upright branch- 

 ing stalk about ten inches high, terminated by loose spikes of 

 white flowers, which appear in the beginning of May. The 

 wood variety being sown with this in a garden, became so 

 like it as not to be distinguished, the yellow flowers becom- 

 ing white. Native of Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, the 

 south of France, and of Italy, in the fissures of rocks Mr. 

 Ray found it near Montpellier, and between Lucca and Pisa, 

 in hedges. In England, it is met with in Derbyshire, York- 

 shire, and Westmoreland ; and is common about Malham. 



7- Draba Hirta. Scape one-leafed ; leaves subhirsute ; 

 silicles oblique, pedicelled. Petals white, emarginate, peren- 

 nial; root -leaves elliptic, smooth, ciliate, tongue-shaped; 

 stem-leaves sessile,ovate-acuminate,havingonly two teeth. 

 Native of Lapland, Denmark, Provence, Switzerland, Silesia, 

 Austria, and Piedmont, in the fissures of the rocks; flowering 

 in May. 



8. Draba Fladnizensis. Scape two-leaved ; leaves smooth, 

 ciliate ; silicles straight, pedicelled. Root fusiform, perennial ; 

 root-leaves forming roses, lanceolate, bluntish, quite entire, 

 flat, shining, smooth, firm, ciliate, with distant hairs; stems 

 from the centre of the roses, erect, undivided, slender, an 

 inch high, naked ; they have one or two sessile, lanceolate, 

 smooth, entire leaves on them, villose, ciliate on the edge; 

 raceme terminating,few-flowered ; flowers from five to eight, 

 pedicelled ; calicine leaflets naked, half the length of the 

 petals, green ; petals snow-white, slightly emarginate ; fila- 

 menta awl-shaped, white, with ovate yellow antherae; silicic 

 naked. It has no scent. Native of Carinthia. 



9. Draba Incana ; Hoary Whitlow Grass. Stem-leaves 

 numerous, hoary ; silicles oblong, oblique, subsessile. Root 

 biennial ; root-leaves very numerous, spreading like the 

 flower of a rose, lanceolate, tomentose, and somewhat hairy, 

 entire, acute ; stem a hand in height, straight, and stiff, 

 hoary, clothed with many leaves, frequently more than thirty, 



very like the root-leaves, but shorter, so that the uppermost 

 are ovate, sessile, and have a few teeth, on the lower part of 

 the stem they are more crowded; flowers in a small termi- 

 nating corymb ; petals white, obscurely emarginate ; silicles 

 in a raceme, ere^t, twisted in a direction contrary to the sun's 

 diurnal motion, compressed, naked ; peduncles hoary, three 

 times shorter than the silicles, stiff, approaching to the stem. 

 Native of Lapland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Bri- 

 tain ; as in Westmoreland, Yorkshire about Settle, and near 

 the summit of Ingleborough; in the Scottish islands of Isla 

 and Skye ; and in Carnarvonshire, North Wales. It flowers 

 in May and June. 



Draccma ; a genus of the class Hexandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calii : none. Corolla : 

 petals six, oblong, somewhat upright, equal, cohering by the 

 claws. Stamina : filamenta six, inserted into the claws, sub- 

 ulate, thicker in the middle, membranaceous at the base, 

 length scarcely of the corolla ; antherae oblong, incumbent. 

 Pistil: germen ovate, six-striated; style filiform, the length 

 of the stamina ; stigma three-cleft, obtuse. Pericarp: berry 

 ovate, six-fnrrowed, three-celled. Seeds : solitary, ovate- 

 oblong, incurved at the tip. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Co- 

 rolla : six-parted, erect. Filamenta .- somewhat thicker in the 

 middle. Berry : three-celled, one-seeded. For propagation 

 and culture, see Phcenix. The species are, 



1. Dracaena Draco; Dragon Tree. Arboreous: leaves 

 somewhat fleshy, with a thorny end. This rises with a thick 

 trunk, nearly equal in size the whole length, the inner part 

 very pithy, next to this a circle of strong fibres, and the out- 

 side soft ; height twelve orfourteen feet ; the trunk is marked 

 with circular rings where the leaves are fallen off ; and the 

 top sustains a large head of leaves comingout singly all round 

 it ; they are shaped like those of the common Iris, but are 

 much longer, being often four or five feet in length, and an 

 inch and a half broad at their base, where they embrace the 

 trunk ; they lessen gradually, and terminate in a point : these 

 leaves are also pliable, hanging down, entire, of a deep green, 

 smooth on both surfaces. It is called Dragon Tree, because 

 the inspissated juice becomes a red powder, very like the 

 Eastern Dragon's-blood. Native of the East Indies. 



2. Dracaena Ferrea ; Purple Dracana. Arboreous : leaves 

 lanceolate, acute. Stem shrubby, almost simple, eight feet 

 high, erect, round, with close protuberant rings from the 

 fallen leaves ; these are quite entire, a foot and a half in 

 length, erect, smooth, on stem-clasping petioles, and of a 

 dusky red colour ; flowers red-purple, sub-terminating ; spa- 

 dix diffused ; spathe long, awl-shaped, permanent ; corolla 

 bell-shaped, six-parted, inferior; segments oblong, obtuse, 

 spreading ; antherae sagittate, sharp, and bifid at the end : 

 style awl-shaped, thick, trifid, equal to the stamina; stigmas 

 simple ; berry red. Native of China. The Chinese call it 

 tat-sio, or tsiet-tsao, and, as well as the Cochin-chinese, 

 plant it in their gardens. It flowers in March and April. 



3. Dracaena Striata. Frutescent, caulescent, erect : leaves 

 lanceolate, obliquely sickle-form, striated ; stem flexuose. 

 Native of the Cape of Good Hope. 



4. Dracaena Terminals. Herbaceous, caulescent : leaves 

 lanceolate. Raceme terminating, composed of a few branches ; 

 pedicels alternate, solitary, shorter than the flower, surround- 

 ed at the base by an obtuse glume. It is a hardy tree. Na- 

 tive of the East Indies, and the Society Isles. This plant 

 was found by Captain Cook very useful in making a kind of 

 beer. The juice of the root is sweet and mucilaginous. 



5. Dracaena Ensifolia ; Sword-leaved Draccena. Herba- 

 ceous, subcaulescent ; leaves ensiform. Root perennial, hori- 

 zontal, creeping, somewhat woody, odoriferous, simple ; root- * 



