D 



DABCECIA (after its Irish name, St. Dabeoc's Heath). 

 More commonly spelled Daboecia, and sometimes 

 Dabeocia. Syn., Boretta. Ericaceae. Shrub cultivated 

 for its purple flowers appearing in summer. 



Low evergreen with alternate entire Ivs. and droop- 

 ing pedicelled fls. in long terminal racemes: corolla 

 ovoid, contracted at the mouth and shortly 4-lobed, 

 with recurved lobes; stamens 8, included: caps. 4- 

 celled, dehiscent. One species in W. Eu. 



This is a very pretty heath-like plant, with purple 

 or white flowers in elegant loose racemes, well adapted 

 for rockeries or borders of evergreen shrubberies. 

 Requires protection North during the winter, and 

 thrives best in a peaty, sandy soil. Propagated by 

 seeds treated like those of Erica, and by cuttings of 

 half-ripened wood under glass. 



cantabrica, Koch (D. polifdlia, Don. Boretta can- 

 tdbrica, Kuntze. Menziesia polifdlia, Juss.). IRISH 

 HEATH. To 2 ft.: branchlets glandular pubescent: Ivs. 

 elliptic, the uppermost narrower, reyolute at the mar- 

 gin, whitish tomentose beneath, shining and dark green 

 above, J^-^in. long: racemes many- 

 fld.; corolla H~Hm. long, purple in 

 the type. June-Oct. Ireland, W. 

 France, N.Spain, Azores. Gn. 52:344; 

 71, p. 442; 76, p. 490. Gn. M. 3:336. 

 R.B. 3:121. Gt. 47:1450. S.B.F.G. 

 2:276. There are many varieties, as 

 alba, Dipp., with white fls. (Gn. 22, 



g302); bicolor, Dipp. (var. stridta, 

 ort.), with white- and purple-striped 

 fls.; rosea, Rehd. (Boretta cantabrica 

 rosea, Koopmann), with pink fls.; 

 atropurpfcrea, Dipp., with dark purple 

 fls.; nana, Rehd. (Menziesia polifdlia 

 nana, Lodd. M. polifdlia pygmaea, Arb. 

 Kew). Dwarf; with small and narrow 

 Ivs. L.B.C. 20:1907. 



ALFRED REHDER. 



DACR^DIUM (Greek-made name, 

 referring to the tear-like exudations). 

 Taxacese. About 16 species of New 

 Zeal., Austral., Malaya and Chile, 

 being trees or shrubs with closely 

 imbricated scale-like Ivs. on old trees 

 and linear or linear-subulate spreading 

 Ivs. on young trees and lower branches, 

 none apparently in the trade in this 

 country but more or less grown in 

 European arboreta; allied to Podocar- 

 pus, from which it differs in having 

 dimorphic Ivs., peduncle of fr. dry or 

 fleshy (fleshy and enlarged in Podocar- 

 pus), and the ovule becoming erect; 

 and to Phyllocladus, which differs in 

 having cladophylla and the true Ivs. 

 reduced to minute scales. Dacrydium 

 is dioecious or rarely monoecious, the 

 fls. not in cone-like structures; male 

 fls. solitary at tips of branchlets and 

 with the uppermost Ivs., females nearly 

 or quite terminal under the If.-like 

 scales: seeds nut-like, ovoid, borne in 

 a cup-like fleshy or thin aril. These 

 more or less spruce-like trees some- 1203. Orchard- 

 times attain a height in their native glomerata. 



regions of 75-100 ft. Some of the species may be 

 expected to thrive in the southern areas. 



DACTYLIS (Greek daktulos, a finger). Graminene. 

 A perennial tufted grass with flat blades, thin promi- 

 nent ligules and sheaths closed nearly to the throat, 

 grown for forage and one form for ornament. 



Panicles glomerate', spikelets 2-5-fld., nearly sessile 

 in dense 1-sided fascicles, these arranged in a panicle; 

 lemmas hispid-ciliate on the keels, awn-tipped, com- 

 pressed. Species 1, north temperate regions of the 

 Old World. 



glomerata, Linn. ORCHARD-GRASS. Fig. 1203. A coarse 

 grass, 2-3 ft., forming large tussocks: panicle a few 

 stiff branches, expanding in fl., afterwards appressed. 

 Dept. Agric., Div. Agrost. 20: 145. Commonly cult, as 

 a pasture and meadow grass and useful for lawns under 

 trees. Var. variegata, Hort., is a dwarf form of com- 

 pact habit with foliage variegated silver and green; 

 used for borders. Prop, by division; of easy cultiva- 

 tion - A. S. HITCHCOCK. 



DACTYLOCTENIUM (Greek, dak- 

 tulos, finger, and ktenion, a little comb). 

 Gramineae. FINGER-COMB GRASS. An- 

 nual grasses with spreading or creeping 

 stems, one of which has been offered 

 as an ornamental subject. 



Spikelets several-fld., sessile, crowded 

 in 2-6 digitate 1-sided, rather broad, 

 flattened spikes; axis of spike extend- 

 ing beyond the spikelets as a naked 

 point. Species 2, warm regions of the 

 Old World. One species, D. aegyptium, 

 Richt. (D. segyptlacum, Willd. Eleusine 

 segyptica, Desf. Cynosiirus segyptius, 

 Linn.), CROW-FOOT, is a common weed 

 in Trop. Amer. The 3-5 short spikes 

 are divaricate at the summit of the 

 culms, about 2 in. long. It has been 

 offered as an ornamental grass for gar- 

 den cult., but has little value. Mojave 

 Indians of S. Calif, use the grain for 

 food. In Afr. a decoction is prepared 

 from the seeds for inflammation of the 

 kidneys. A. S. HITCHCOCK. 



D-/EDALACANTHUS (Greek words, 

 signifying an acanthad of curious struc- 

 ture). Acanthacese. Tropical shrubs or 

 sub-shrubs, with blue or rose-colored 

 flowers, sometimes grown under glass 

 and in the open in warm countries. 



Leaves entire or scarcely dentate: 

 fls. in bracted spikes which are some- 

 times paniculate, the bracts usually 

 much exceeding the calyx ; calyx deeply 

 5-lobed or -parted; corolla-tube elon- 

 gated and slender, more or less curved, 

 bearing an oblique spreading 5-lobed 

 limb; perfect stamens 2, affixed in the 

 throat, included; style slender and 

 recurved: fr. an ovate or oblong caps., 

 the seeds 4 or fewer. Some 15 to 20 

 species in E. India and Malay Archi- 

 grass. Dactylis pelago; by some authors the name 

 (plant XH) Eranthemum is applied to these plants 



(950) 



