74 



THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



* Though not of equal commercial 

 value to the palms as greenhouse and 

 hot house decorative plants, they cer- 

 tainly rank very high. Some of them 

 are excellent plants for the house. I 

 have in mind a plant of D. fragrans 

 Lindenii some 3 feet high in a 9-inch 

 pot, furnished to the pot with its 

 beautiful leaves, that has stood sev- 

 eral feet from a window in a sitting 

 room for the past six months, and is 

 to all appearance in perfect health. 

 Pandanus utilis, the ideal house plant, 

 could not beat this. 



Some of the species may grow 6 

 feet or 30 feet in their native habitat, 

 and with age have bare stems 

 crowned with a tuft of leaves, but our 

 object in growing them as small or 



Except in the darkest days of win- 

 ter dracaenas should have a thorough 

 daily syringing. By thorough is meant 

 that every particle of the underside of 

 the leaf should receive a good force 

 from the syringe or hose. This ne- 

 cessitates a good condition of the soil 

 that the water will pass freely 

 through. The moisture arising from 

 the syringing is conducive to growth, 

 but a necessity as well to keep down 

 thrip and red spider, which are very 

 fond of dracaenas, especially the ter- 

 minalis type, and will soon ruin the 

 appearance of the leaf if allowed to 

 commence their work. 



Propagation in nearly all species is 

 by cuttings, which grow from the ri- 

 pened stems. The leading shoot will 



Dracaena Lindenii. 



medium sized decorative plants is to 

 preserve the leaves to the very bottom 

 of the stem and with the best cultiva- 

 tion they will carry their bottom 

 leaves for some years. 



It is noticeable that the fragrans 

 type (tropical Africa) will bear and 

 require 10 degrees more heat in the 

 winter time than the terminalis and 

 the high colored varieties. The ter- 

 minalis type will do very well in a 

 minimum winter temperature of 55 to 

 60 degrees, while fragrans and its va- 

 rieties and Goldieana require 10 de- 

 grees higher. Fragrans also wants a 

 good shade in the summer months, 

 while the varieties of terminalis need 

 shade only from the brightest rays of 

 the sun. 



root freely but this would be a very 

 slow process, so stems are imported, 

 or the ripened stems of old plants are 

 used. They can be cut up into pieces 

 one to two inches long, or the whole 

 length of the stem can be laid in the 

 propagating bed. A good mixture for 

 the propagating bed is coarse sand 

 and chopped sphagnum in equal parts, 

 and the heat of the bed should be 80 

 degrees. Let the stem be even with 

 surface of bed. From the eyes or 

 joints will spring young shoots which 

 when two or three inches long can be 

 cut from the stems, and they quickly 

 root in warm sand and are soon on 

 the road to make young plants. 



The soil for dracaenas should be a 

 good loam, not too finely broken up, 



and a fourth of leaf-mould, and the 

 plants potted moderately firm. The 

 pots, which should never be larger 

 than necessary, should have an inch of 

 broken crocks covered with a layer 

 of green moss; this is as near good 

 drainage as you can get. 



Some of the species are very beauti- 

 ful, but more suitable for the private 

 collection than for the commercial 

 man. 



D. Draco: Very suitable for sub- 

 tropical gardening or for vases. 



D. Goldieana: Beautifully marked 

 with dark green and silvery grey. 



D. fragrans: This is one of the fin- 

 est species, requiring a good heat in 

 winter and shade in summer. 



D. fragrans Lindenii: Same habit 

 as fragrans but the leaf has a series of 

 stripes of creamy white or yellow on 

 each side of the green center. 



D. Massangeana: Another variegat- 

 ed form of D. fragrans, the chief dis- 

 tinction from Lindenii being that the 

 variegation appears in a broad band 

 of yellow or cream color throughout 

 the center of the leaf. 



D. australis: A fine plant for out- 

 side decoration. 



D. Novo-Caledonica: A fine bold 

 species with large bronze leaves. 



D. Sanderiana: An upright striped 

 green and white species of recent in- 

 troduction which has proved very 

 good for the center of large ferneries, 

 and which stands the dry air of rooms 

 admirably. 



D. terminalis: Green or bronze when 

 young. With age the leaves assume 

 fine shades of scarlet or crimson. Most 

 generally cultivated of all dracaenas 

 and the parent of scores of the finest 

 varieties. The following will be found 

 to be beautiful and distinct sorts: 

 Metallica, dark purplish bronze; ama- 

 bilis, fine habit, glossy green suffused 

 with pink and white; Baptistii, green 

 margined with yellow and pink; im- 

 perialis, broad deep green leaves, the 

 younger leaves crimson and pink; ter- 

 minalis stricta grandis, the most 

 highly colored and best of the ter- 

 minalis form; Youngii, bright green 

 streaked with deep red; and Lord 

 Wolsley, Gladstoneii, Rebecca, Bella, 

 Scottii, and Annerleyense, are all 

 beautiful varieties. 



D. indivisa: A distinct species from 

 New Zealand. It will thrive in a 

 much lower temperature than any of 

 the others except Draco. There are 

 several varieties of indivisa, the best 

 of which are Veitchii and lineata. Un- 

 like the other dracaenas this one is 

 easily and quickly raised from seed. 

 If it were propagated only by cuttings 

 how highly prized it would be, for no 

 dracaena has more grace. What makes 

 it most valuable to the commercial 

 florist is its ability to withstand th 

 sun and drought to which it is ex- 

 posed throughout the summer in our 

 cemetery vases. It not only lives un- 

 der these unfavorable conditions but 

 flourishes. When three or four feet 

 high if in good order it makes a splen- 

 did decorative plant that will endure 



