XLIII. XEROTIDE.E. 861 



antiscorbutic qualities. 1 The root of Dianella odorata is used in Java, according to Blume, with other 

 aromatics, in the composition of pastilles for burning. The Dragon Tree (Draceena Draco), remarkable 

 for its monstrous dimensions and prodigious longevity, exudes from its trunk a red resinous juice (one of 

 the many kinds of Dragon's Blood), used medicinally as an astringent. This resin has its analogue 

 amongst Xant/wrr/tccas, which we have placed near Xerotidca 1 . The Dragon Tree of Orotava is visited 

 by all travellers in the Canary Islands. Its trunk below the lowest branches is 80 feet in height,- and 

 ten men holding hands can scarcely encircle it. When Teneriffe was discovered in 1402, tradition affirms 

 that it was already as large as it is now ; a tradition confirmed by the slow growth of the young Dragon 

 Trees in the Canaries, of which the age is exactly known ; whence it has been calculated that the Dragon 

 Tree of Orotava is the oldest plant now existing on the globe. 



XIII. EOXBURGHIACE^E, Wallich: 2 



[Twining half-shrubby PLANTS. LEAVES alternate, petioled, ovate, coriaceous ; 

 nerves parallel, with cross venules. FLOWERS large, solitary, axillary, foetid. PERIANTH 

 of 4 lanceolate petaloid segments. STAMENS 4, hypogynous ; filaments very short ; 

 anthers large, basifixed, 2-celled, dehiscence longitudinal, produced into a very long 

 appendage. OVARY 1-celled ; style ; stigma pointed ; ovules many, on 2 basal 

 placentas, anatropous. CAPSULE 1-celled, 2-valved, many-seeded. SEEDS narrow, 

 obovoid, appendiculate, on very long funicles, which form two fascicles, and have a 

 whorl of vesicles round the apex below the seed ; testa thick, furrowed ; albumen 

 fleshy. EMBRYO slender, axile. 



ONLY GENUS. 

 Eoxburghia. 



A genus of very few species, natives of Trans-Gangetic India and the Malayan Islands. The 

 tuberous root is candied in India. ED.] 



XLIII. XEROTIDEJE, Endlicher. 



Perennial HERBS. STEM or very short. LEAVES Grass-like or filiform, dilated 

 at the base, or reduced to radical sheaths (Aphyllanthes). FLOWERS $ , or dioecious 

 (Xerotes, Dasylirion), in a raceme, spike, head or umbel. PERIANTH petaloid or sub- 

 coloured (Xerotes, Abama), with 6 equal leaflets or segments. STAMENS 6, hypogy- 

 nous or perigynous; anthers 2-celled, oblong or ovoid, sometimes peltate (Xerotes). 

 OVARY free, with 3 1^-2- rarely several-ovuled cells (Abama, Xanthorrhoea), sometimes 

 1-celled (Calectasia); styles 3, usually united; ovules attached near the base of the 

 cells, erect. CAPSULE with 3 loculicidal semi-septiferous valves, sometimes 1 -seeded 

 and indehiscent (Kingia, Calectasia); albumen fleshy or cartilaginous. EMBRYO 



straight, basilar or axile. 



PRINCIPAL GENERA. 



Abama. Dasylirion. Sowerbaea. Aphyllanthes. 



Xerotes. Xanthorrhcea. Kingia. Calectasia. 



1 I am unaware of the authority for this statement ED. 2 ThU Ordrr is omitted in the original, El>. 



