DRIMIA 



DROSOPHYLLUM 



1077 



DRIMIA (name refers to the acridity of the roots). 

 Liliacese. Bulbous S. African and Trop. African plants 

 of the Scilla tribe, with gamophyllous perianth and 

 a campanulate tube, the segms. linear -oblong and 

 reflexing: stamens 6, shorter than the segms., and 

 inserted at the throat of the perianth-tube; ovary ses- 

 sile, ovoid, 3-celled, becoming a loculicidally 3-valved 

 membranous caps. : Ivs. either broad and rather fleshy 

 or narrow and rigid, often appearing at a different 

 season from the bloom: fls. on a naked peduncle or 

 scape, in a simple raceme. About 30 species, none of 

 which appears to be regularly in cult. >. oligosperma, 

 C. H. Wright. Probably from S. Afr., and very recently 

 described: fl. -clusters over 6 ft. high, much branched, 

 the beautiful white fls. with 3 green nerves on the 

 oblanceolate spreading petals opening late in the 

 afternoon: bulb elliptic, 6 in. long: Ivs. 12-14, rosulate, 

 1^2 ft. long, li near-acuminate, glabrous. Likely to 

 come into commercial cult. 



DRIMYS (from a Greek word, used in allusion to the 

 sharp or acrid taste of the bark). Magnoliacese. About 

 10 evergreen trees or shrubs, allied to Illicium, dis- 

 tributed from Mex. to the Straits of Magellan, and in 

 Austral., New Zeal., and islands. Glabrous and aromatic 

 plants with pellucid-punctate Ivs., and polygamous 

 diclinous or perfect fls. on 1- to many-fld. peduncles, 

 white, yellowish or rose-colored and showy; sepals 

 2-4; petals 6-, in 2 or more series; stamens , on 

 thickened filaments; ovaries usually 2-oo, with sessile 

 stigma and many seeds. D. Winteri, Forst. (Winlera 

 aromdtica, Murr.), is a S. American small tree (to 50 

 ft.), with milk-white fls. 1 in. or more across, jasmine- 

 scented; petals 8-12, pale cream-yellow: Ivs. alternate, 

 evergreen, elliptical or lanceolate, coriaceous, somewhat 

 acuminate, entire, glabrous, very aromatic: branches 

 with reddish bark: umbels (3-9-fld.) often nearly 

 equaling the Ivs. : scarcely known either as a glasshouse 

 subject or for outdoor cult, in warm countries. B.M. 



L. H. B. 



DROSERA (Greek droseros, dewy, from the 

 dew-like excretions on the tips of the leaf- 

 hairs). Droseracese. A group of carnivorous 

 B'ants popularly known as the SUNDEWS or 

 EW-PLANTS. 



The sts. usually short, slender or com- 

 pressed, rarely elongate and upright in . 

 such types as D. peltata: Ivs. varying from 

 linear through lanceolate to circular, often 1362, 



arranged in a rosette, and beset over their 

 upper surfaces with fine often irritable hairs, that 

 excrete a clear neutral viscid fluid which entangles 

 and catches insect prey; the hairs then bend inward 

 toward the If.-center, the fluid becomes acid and also 

 excretes a proteinaceous ferment by which the animal 

 tissues are digested, the dissolved products being then 

 absorbed for the plant's nutrition: fl.-scapes slender, 

 ending in curved scorpioid cymes of blooms, \i~\ l /2 in. 

 across, and varying from white through pink to scarlet 

 or crimson; sepals, petals and stamens 5 each, while the 

 carpels vary from 5-3, are syncarpous with parietal 

 placentation, and bear as many style-arms or lobes: 

 fr. a caps. About 90 species scattered over the world, 

 though most abundantly in Austral. Monograph by 

 Diels in Engler's Pflanzenreich, hft. 26. The species 

 usually grow in moist muddy soil, at times almost 

 floating in water, as in the common N. J. species, D. 

 intermedia. Some Australian kinds form tubers, and can 

 then survive through dry periods. The Ivs. in our 

 native species wither in autumn, and a small winter 

 bud-rosette is formed, which unfolds its Ivs. in the 

 succeeding spring. 



The native and exotic species all grow well if treated 

 as greenhouse plants, and grown in fine muddy loam 

 topped by a little sphagnum. They should also be 



kept constantly moist in their root extremities, and 

 exposed to bright light. The following native and 

 exotic species are now often grown in collections. 

 They can be propagated by seeds, by division of the 

 shoots, or by cutting the slender rhizomes into short 

 lengths of Y^-\ in. The last, when placed in moist 

 soil, root and form buds in two to three weeks. 



binata, Labill. (D. dicholoma, B. & S.). Sts. short: 

 Ivs. long-stalked, 6-16 in. high, once- to twice-forked 

 into long-linear reddish green segms. that are covered 

 with viscid hairs: scape branched above; fls. white, 

 ^-%in. across; fls. June, July. Austral, and N. Zeal. 

 B.M. 3082. Intro, in 1823. Easily grown and prop, 

 by division of the crowns. 



capensis, Linn. St. slightly elongate: Ivs. in a ter- 

 minal rosette, linear to spatulate, tapered into petiole, 

 obtuse at apex: scapes 6-10 in. long with 5-20 secund 

 purple fls.; fls. June, July. Afr., southwestern part of 

 Cape Colony. B.M. 6583. Intro, in 1875. 



filif6rmis, Raf. St. short, hair- 

 covered: Ivs. linear, erect, 6-8 in. 

 long, greenish with abundant purple 

 hairs: scape equal to or longer than 

 above, 6-15-fld. ; fls. rather crowded, 

 unilateral; petals pink-purple, %in. 

 across; fls. June, July. Del. to 

 Mass., along sandy coastal places. 

 B.M. 3540. Torrey, Fl. N. York, 

 82: t. 10. 



intermedia, Hayne. Rhizome 

 slender, 1-4 in. long: Ivs. 1^2-2^4 

 in. long, long-petioled, spatulate, 

 red with glandular hairs: scape 6 

 12-fld.; petals white; fls. April (Fla.) 

 to August (New Bruns.). E. N. 

 Amer., Cuba, and Eu. Forms wild 

 hybrids at times with other species, 

 peltata, Smith. St. 6-10 in., bulb- 

 ous below, slender elongate above 

 ground, with scattered pel- 

 tate glandular Ivs., and 

 terminating in delicate 

 6-10-fld. stalks: petals 

 white to pink. From India 

 through China, Japan and 

 the Philippines to Austral. 

 G.C.II. 19 : 436. A pretty, 

 delicate and striking spe- 

 cies now not uncommon in 

 cult. 



rotundifdlia, Linn. Fig. 1362. St. short, slender: Ivs. 

 %-2 in., with elongate non-glandular petiole and 

 circular red-glandular blade: scape slender, 5-12-fld.; 

 petals white, expanding in bright sunshine; fls. May 

 (Carolinas) to Sept. (Newfoundland). A classic 

 plant, owing to Darwin's studies in "Insectivorous 

 Plants." 



Tracyi, Macfarlane. Habit of D. filiformis. Lvs. 

 12-16 in., pale green with light green glandular hairs: 

 scape 15-24 in. ; fls. purple, %in. across. Abundant over 

 the coastal area of the Gulf states from mid-Fla. to 

 La. Fl. April, May. One of the largest species of the 

 genus. J. M. MACFARLANE. 



DROSOPHYLLUM (dew-kaved) . One of the 6 genera 

 of the Droseraceas, comprising a single species in S. Spain, 

 Portugal and Morocco, sometimes seen in collections 

 of insectivorous plants, and for the interesting mor- 

 phology, the Ivs. being revolute rather than involute 

 as in the droseras and other plants. D. lusitdnicum, 

 Link, is a sub-shrubby little plant, the simple st. 2-6 

 in. high bearing at the top long-linear glandular insect- 

 holding Ivs.: fls. 1^2 in- across, on an elevated stalk 

 (1 ft. high), bright yellow, with 10-20 stamens, alter- 

 nating in length, bearing short yellow anthers; petals 



Drosera rotundif olia. ( X K) 



