542 | LILIACER. [ Dracaena. 
the acrid matter which they contain renders them valuable as purga- 
tives and emetics. Sarsaparilla is the produce of several American 
species of Smilax (8. Purhampuy, S. medica, 8. syphylitica, and 8. 
officinalis) ,and that yielded by some Indian species is considered not 
much inferior to the American. Dragon-blood, a tonic astringent 
resin, is yielded by Dracaena Draco, but it is usually substituted by 
the resin of padouk (Pterocarpus). Botany Bay gum, a fragrant 
brownish-yellow resin, comes from the Australian grass-tree (Xan-_ 
thorrhwa arborea). It is, however, more for the valuable fibre- 
plants which this family contains that makes it also interesting to 
the forester. New Zealand flax (Phormiwm tenax) and African 
or Bowstring hemp (several species of Sanseviera) are well-known 
examples. Yucca, too, yields very tenacious fibre. The tribe 
Melanthace@ is remarkable for its poisonous qualities, and the poung- 
yees often collect the poisonous roots of Gloriosa for medicinal 
purposes. 
Fruit a succulent berry ; ovary-cells with a solitary ovul : . Dracaena. 
As former, but the ovary-cells with several ovules . cme" . Cordyline. 
DRACAENA, Vand. 
Perianth corolla-like, tubular, deeply 6-cleft, caducous, the 
lobes valvate in the bud. Stamens 6, adnate to the perianth-tube 
and free from the throat; anthers 2-celled, versatile. Ovary free, 
8-celled, with a solitary ovule in each cell; style 3-sulcate, filiform ; 
stigma capitately 3-lobed. Berry 3- or by abortion 2- or 1-lobed, 
with as many globular seeds as lobes. Embryo lateral at the base 
of the horny albumen.—Trees or shrubs, usually more or less 
‘branched, the stems marked with the half-circular scars of the 
fallen leaves. ‘Leaves from linear to elliptical, petioled or sessile 
and half-stem-clasping. Flowers usually fascicled and irregularly 
bracted, forming a simple raceme or a more or less branched termi- 
nal panicle. 
* Flowers in panicles. 
x Leaves sessile with a narrowed stem-clasping base ; 
rianth-lobes more or less recurved from the middle. 
3; panicle 
1-2 lin. long, with scarious border; filaments white; berry- 
lobes the size of a small pea . D. angustifolia. 
obes as large as a cherry or small plum, ° : : . D. linearifolia. 
Treelet ; panicle nodding, longer than the leaves, fiexuose; bracts : 
acute, almost wholly scarious; filaments orange; pedicels 5 
in. long. : . : ‘ ¢ ; . . D, ensifolia. 
Small shrub; panicle much shorter than the }-} in. long leaves, 
_ ereet, stiff ; bracts linear, acuminate, herbaceous, with scarious 
margin; pedicels only 2-3lin.lng  . . «. . + Ds brachyphylla. 
