DULICHIUM 



DUVALIA 



1081 



DULICHIUM (old Latin name). Cyperacese. One 

 perennial species, D. arundindceum, Brit. (D. spalhd- 

 ceum, Pers.), in E. N. Amer., which has been offered 

 by collectors as a bog-plant. It is grass-like, with terete 

 leafy culms which are hollow and unbranched, 2-3 ft. 

 tall; it has linear flattened spikelets sessile in 2 ranks on 

 peduncles that arise from the If.-sheaths. It is dis- 

 tributed in swamps about ponds from Newfoundland 

 across the continent and to Fla. and Texas; of no 

 special value. 



DURANTA (after Castor Durantes, physician in 

 Rome and botanist, died about 1590). Verbendceae. 

 Tropical American woody plants, some of which are 

 cultivated outdoors in Florida and California, and in a 

 few northern greenhouses. 



Shrubs or trees, glabrous or woolly, often armed 

 with axillary spines: Ivs. opposite or in whorls, entire 

 or toothed: racemes long and terminal or short and 

 axillary; fls. small, short-pedicelled in the axis of a 

 small bract; corolla-limb of 5 spreading oblique or 

 equal lobes, the tube usually curved; stamens 4, 

 didynamous; calyx enlarging and inclosing the fr.; 

 stigma 4-lobed: fr. an 8-seeded juicy drupe. Eight 

 or 10 species, Mex., W. Indies, S. Amer., one reaching 

 Key West. 



Plumieri, Jacq. (D. spinbsa, Linn. D. inermis, Linn. 

 D. repens, Linn. D. Ellisia, Jacq. Ellisia acuta, Linn.). 

 GOLDEN DEWDROP. A variable shrub or small 'tree, 

 minutely pubescent or becoming glabrous: branches 

 4-angled : Ivs. obovate, oblong, ovate or elliptic, mostly 

 entire, contracted into short petiole: fls. in panicled 

 loose racemes; calyx-teeth subulate; corolla lilac, the 

 limb less than Kin. across, the lobes ciliolate; calyx 

 yellowish, closed into a beak and covering the yellow 

 drupe (which may reach about j^in. diam.). Key 

 West, W. Indies, Mex., to Brazil. B.M. 1759. B.R. 

 244. Branches either armed or unarmed. Attractive 

 forms with white fls. and with variegated Ivs. are 

 reported in cult. 



Lorentzii, Griseb. Spineless, the branchlets 4-angled: 

 Ivs. small, coriaceous, ovate or elliptic, obtusish, strongly 

 serrate toward apex, petioled: .fls. in terminal inter- 

 rupted racemes (white?) ; calyx tubular, 5-ribbed, short- 

 toothed; corolla-tube exserted, cylindrical; cprolla- 

 limb unequally 5-parted, the lobes oval-orbicular; 

 stamens included, didynamous: fr. a 2-pyrenous berry. 

 Argentina; offered in S. Calif. 



stenostachya, Tod. Closely allied to D. Plumieri. 

 Spineless, to 15 ft. high, branchlets 4-angled: Ivs. 

 oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, serrate or entire, pubes- 

 cent on the veins beneath, 3-8 in. long: fls. lilac, less 

 than }/in. across, pendulous in slender racemes, 3-4 at 

 the end of the branches, in fr. 6-12 in. long: fr. yellow, 

 about M m - across. Brazil. Offered in S. Calif. 



L. H. B. 



DURAZNILLO: Jatropha. 



DURIO (from a Malayan vernacular). Bombacdcese. 

 Trees of the Indian archipelago and Malaysia, one of 

 which yields the durian (D. zibethinus, Linn.), a 

 much-prized fruit of the East. Fig. 1366. There are 

 probably a dozen other species of Durio, mostly Bor- 

 nean and recently described. 



The durian is a tall tree (to 80 ft.), with oblong 

 acuminate entire Ivs., colored and scaly beneath, 

 pinnately veined, coriaceous: fls. large, whitish, in 

 lateral cymes or fascicles; calyx bell-shaped, 5-lobed, 

 subtended by an involucre; petals 3; staminal column 

 divided above into many filaments in 4-6 groups, the 

 anthers twisted; ovary 5-celled, each cell many-ovuled, 

 bearing a long style with a capitate stigma: fr. ovoid 

 or globular, often 10 in. long, very spiny, somewhat 

 woody, mostly indehiscent, the large seeds and carpels 

 surrounded by a firm cream-colored edible pulp. The 

 fr. has a strong offensive odor. 



The durian is discussed as follows by O. W. Barrett 

 in the Philippine Agricultural Review: 



"The durian has an odor that can be compared only 

 to a mixture of old cheese and onions, flavored with 

 turpentine; but those who eat it love it so dearly that 

 the smell does not bother them. . . . The fruit 

 weighs about five pounds, nearly one-third of which is 

 edible pulp and about one-sixth of which is edible 

 seeds; the sugar -content is 

 over 12 per cent, and it con- 

 tains the same amount of 

 starch besides. The tree is 



1366. The durian Durio zibethinus. 

 (From an early representation of the fruit.) 



magnificent and stately, and grows usually in open 

 country, in the edges of forests, around native villages, 

 and in clearings. It can hardly be called a cultivated 

 tree; at least, it is hardly ever grown in orchards, 

 although on the other hand it could hardly hold its 

 own in the real wild. Throughout Malaysia it is con- 

 sidered the most delicious fruit. Europeans, of course, 

 generally revolt at the unpleasant odor; a fair propor- 

 tion, however, of the foreign residents soon grow to 

 relish the durian. Although it would not be wise, per- 

 haps, for one unaccustomed to the fruit to eat a large 

 quantity of the pulp at one sitting, there is apparently 

 no substance in it that would cause indigestion or any 

 other result than a rather unpleasant breath for a few 

 hours after eating. The chemical body which is respon- 

 sible for the very pronounced odor is probably one of 

 the sulfur compounds with some base perhaps similar 

 to that of butyric acid. Harvesting the durian is not 

 unattended with danger, for soon after it becomes 

 mature the heavy fruit falls, and occasionally kills or 

 severely injures the unlucky individual underneath." 



The seeds are eaten roasted, and the unripe fruit 

 boiled as a vegetable. The tree has been successfully 

 introduced into Jamaica, but is not in general cultiva- 

 tion in that island. 



The specific name, zibethinus, is said to be derived 

 from the practice of using the decomposed fruit as a 

 bait for the civet-cat or zibet. Fig. 1366 is reduced from 

 Vol. 7 of the Trans, of the Linn. Soc., 1804, illustrating 

 Konig's historic account of the fruit. ] J> jj. 3. 



DUSTY MILLER: Lychnis Coronaria; also species of Centaurea 

 and Senecio. 



DUTCHMAN'S BREECHES: Dicentra Ciicullaria. 

 DUTCHMAN'S PIPE: Aristolochia. 



DUVALIA (for Duval, an early botanist). Asdepia- 

 dacese. About 20 succulent very dwarf leafless herbs, 

 mostly of S. Afr., rarely seen in cult. : sts. decumbent 

 or erect, sometimes subterranean and with the tips 

 appearing above the surface, 4-6-angled and with 

 spreading teeth, each of which bears a minute rudi- 

 mentary If.: fls. solitary or in small clusters or cymes, 

 usually borne near the middle of the young sts. ; corolla 

 rotate, deeply 5-lobed, with a cushion-like ring around 

 the outer corona and supporting it; corolla-lobes linear- 



