472 



D R A 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



D R A 



leaves heaped, thick, striated, shining, reflex, a foot long; 

 scape three feet high, leafy at bottom, naked at top, round, 

 slender, declining ; flowers terminating, subumbelled ; co- 

 rolla bell-shaped, spreading; petals lanceolate, blue on the 

 outside, white within, small ; filamenta spreading, dilated 

 at the base ; berry roundish, blue, three-grooved, containing 

 many minute seeds. Native of the Eastlndies, and Cochin- 

 china. 



6. Dracaena Undulata. Herbaceous, caulescent, erect : 

 leaves ovate, acute, many-nerved ; flowers axillary, pedun- 

 cled. Native of the Cape of Good Hope. 



". Dracaena Medeoloides. Herbaceous, twining ; leaves 

 ovate, nerved. Native of the Cape of Good Hope. 



8. Dracaena Erecta. Herbaceous, caulescent, erect ; leaves 

 lanceolate, subulate, sessile. Native of the Cape. 



9. Dracaena Volubilis. Herbaceous, twining : leaves lan- 

 ceolate. Found at the Cape. 



10. Dracaena Graminifolia. Herbaceous, stemless : leaves 

 linear. Scape scarcely longer than the leaves ; four or five 

 flowers at each tooth of the raceme, on pedicels shorter than 

 the flower itself, coming out from a kind of obscure glume. 

 Native of Asia. 



11. Dracaena Emarginata. Shrubby : leaves tooth-spiny ; 

 racemes axillary ; berries many-seeded. Native of the Isle 

 of Bourbon. 



12. Dracaena Borealis. Herbaceous, subcaulescent ; leaves 

 elliptic. The whole herbage somewhat pubescent. It 

 flowers in June ; and is a native of Hudson's Bay, and 

 Newfoundland. 



13. Dracaena Indivisa. Arboreous : leaves ensiform, acute ; 

 raceme compound. Trunk round, full of small chinks, undi- 

 vided, leafy at top, from six to nine feet high ; raceme appa- 

 rently lateral, but perhaps this was owing to the next set of 

 leaves destined for the ensuing year coming out ; it is ovate, 

 nodding, with the partial racemes digested into a cyliiidric 

 thyrsoid form ; pedicels one-flowered, very short, horizontal : 

 bractes at the base of the pedicel, two, very small, lanceolate, 

 acute, concave ; petals subreflex ; germen superior ; style 

 short ; berry globular, blue, marked above with three hollow 

 dots, mucronate, with the permanent style, having about 

 seven seeds in each cell, involved in an aril or membrane, so 

 as to appear only one ; they are black, smooth, semilunar, 

 and three-sided. The berries of this species are eaten by the 

 New Zealanders ; they are ripe in May, that is, at the begin- 

 ning of their winter. The young leaves, or rather the hyber- 

 nacle concealed among them, is an excellent salad,which, to- 

 gether with the Areca Oleracea and Sapida, Apium Graveo- 

 lens, or Smalloge, Tetragonia Halimifolia, Lepidium Olera- 

 ceum and I'iscidium, and Sonchus Oleraceus or Sow-thistle, 

 was found to be of great service to our navigators in resisting 

 the putrid scurvy. Native of New Zealand. 



14. Dracaena Australis. Arboreous: leaves ensiform, acute ; 

 raceme terminating, erect, superdecompound. Native of 

 New Zealand. 



Dracocephalum ; a genus of the class Didynamia, order 

 Gymnospermia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth 

 one-leafed, tubular, permanent, very short. Corolla : one- 

 petalled, ringent ; tube length of the calix ; throat very large, 

 oblong, inflated, gaping, a little compressed at the back ; lip 

 superior, straight, arched, complicated, obtuse ; lip infe- 

 rior, three-cleft ; lateral divisions upright, as it were the 

 segments of the throat, the intermediate one hanging down, 

 small, prominent, forwards at the base, roundish, emarginate. 

 Stamina : filamenta four, subulate, hid beneath the upper lip 

 of the corolla, of which two are a little shorter ; antherae 

 somewhat cordate. Pistil: germen four-parted ; style fili- 



form, in the situation of the stamina ; stigma two-cleft, sharp, 

 slender, reflex. Pericarp : none; calix cherishing the seeds 

 in its bosom. Seeds four, ovate-oblong, three-sided. ES- 

 SENTIAL CHARACTER. Corolla : throat inflated ; upper lip 

 concave. The species are, 



* In Spikes. 



1. Dracocephalum Virginianum ; Virginian Dragon's 

 Head. Flowers crowded ; leaves linear-lanceolate, serrate. 

 It rises with an upright stalk, nearly three feet high ; leaves 

 about three inches long, and half an inch broad, sessile ; they 

 are usually in pairs at each joint, but sometimes there are 

 three together : the flowers are purple, in terminating spikes, 

 and make a pretty variety among other hardy plants. It is 

 perennial, flowering from July to September; and a native of 

 North America, in woods, and by the sides of rivers. It will 

 live in the open air of our climate, but requires a moist soil, 

 or should be duly watered in dry weather, otherwise the 

 leaves will shrink, and the flowers make little appearance. It 

 may be allowed a place in the shady borders of a garden, 

 for it will not ramble nor take up much room, and may be 

 propagated by parting its roots in autumn. 



2. Dracocephalum Denticulatum ; Denticulated Dragon't 

 Head. Flowers remote ; leaves obovate-lanceolate, denticu- 

 late above. It is allied to the first species, but is inferior in 

 point of beauty ; it spreads more on the ground ; its flower- 

 ing-stems are not altogether so upright, nor so tall ; its leaves 

 are broader ; and the flowers in the spikes less numerous. 

 It flowers in August and September ; and is a native of North 

 America. Like the first, it is a hardy perennial, multiplying 

 considerably by its roots, which creep in some degree : it 

 requires a moist soil, and a shady situation. 



3. Dracocephalum Canariense ; Canary Dragon's Head, 

 or Balm of Gilead. Leaves compound. This plant is per- 

 ennial, rising with several stalks to the height of three feet or 

 more, and becoming woody at the lower part ; leaves at each 

 joint, having three or five oblong, pointed, serrate leaflets : 

 the flowers come out on short thick spikes at the top of the 

 stalks, they are of a pale blue colour, and are produced from 

 July to September ; the corolla is flesh-coloured, or pale pur- 

 ple with white lines. Native of the Canary Islands .whence it 

 was imported into Europe, under the name of permeuto de 

 Tana : the old writers call it Camphorosma and Cedronella ; 

 and the moderns, Balm of Gilead, from its rich odour on 

 being gently rubbed. It is usually kept in the green-house, 

 but in mild winters the plants will live abroad in warm bor- 

 ders ; and those which are kept in pots will thrive much bet- 

 ter when sheltered under a frame, than in a green-house, 

 where the plants are apt to draw up weak, for they require as 

 much free air as possible in mild weather, and need only be 

 sheltered from severe frost. This species may be propagated 

 by seeds, which if sown in autumn will more certainly grow 

 than those which are so wn in the spring ; but if these be sown 

 in pots, they must be sheltered under a frame in winter, and 

 if the plants do not come up in the smue autumn, they will 

 rise in the spring ; but if the seeds are sown in the full 

 ground, it should be in a warm border, and they should l<e 

 defended from hard frosts, otherwise the young plants will 

 be destroyed. They may also be propagated by cuttings, 

 which, if planted in a shady border any time in summer, 

 \\ill very soon take root, and furnish plenty of rooted plants. 



4 Dracocephalum 1'innatum. Leaves cordate, pinnate- 

 sinuate. Stems shrubby, decumbent; leaves transversely pin- 

 natitid, obtuse, with remote lobes, on long petioles. The 

 spike is like that of the Milamfiyrum Arvense. The bractes 

 are lanceolate, with bristly teeth, and are often red ; corolla* 



