daff] 



&f)C £r?a£urg of 3Sntani). 



380 



fruits are about the size of cherries, and, 

 when ripe, are covered with a reddish 

 resinous substance, which is separated by 

 shaking them in a coarse canvass bag. 

 The resin thus obtained forms the best 

 kind of dragon's blood, while inferior 

 sorts are obtained by boiling the fruits 

 after they have undergone the shaking 

 process. Several varieties of dragon's 

 blood (sticks, reeds, tears, and lumps) 

 are known in commerce, but some are 

 yielded by plants belonging to widely 

 different natural orders. It is chiefly used 

 for colouring varnishes, for dyeing horn in 

 imitation of tortoise shell, and in the com- 

 position of tooth-powders and various 

 tinctures. [A. S.] 



DAFFODIL. Narcissus Pseudo-Narcissus, 

 also called Daffy-down-dilly. — , PERU- 

 VIAN. Ismene Amancaes. — , SEA. Is- 

 mene calathina. 



DAGGER-FLOWER. Machceranthera. 



DAGGER PLANT. A name for Yucca. 



DAHLIA. A well-known herbaceous 

 plant belonging to the compound flowers, 

 and distinguished by its chaffy receptacle, 

 the absence of a pappus, and by the double 

 involucre of which the outer is many- 

 leaved, the inner of one leaf divided into 

 eight segments. The Dahlia is named 

 after Dr. Dahl, a pupil of Linnajus, but is 

 also known, especially on the continent, 

 by the name Georgina. Countless as are 

 the varieties of this flower, there are, at the 

 most, only two species in cultivation, D. 

 superjlua, of which the outer involucre is 

 reflexed, and D. frustranea, in which it is 

 spreading ; while under the name D. vari- 

 abilis both these are united. The Dahlia 

 is a native of Mexico, where it grows in 

 sandy meadows at an elevation of 5,000 feet 

 above the sea, and from whence the first 

 plants introduced to England were brought 

 by way of Madrid in 1789, by the Mar- 

 chioness of Bute. These having been lost, 

 others were introduced, in 1804, by Lady 

 Holland. These also having periled, a 

 fresh importation was made from France, 

 when the continent was thrown open by 

 the peace of 1814. The first introduction 

 into France had taken place about 1800 ; 

 and the plant was cultivated there for the 

 sake of its tubers, which were said to be 

 eatable. Owing, however, to their acrid 

 and medicinal flavour, they found no fa- 

 vour with the human species, and were re- 

 jected by cattle. The roots are large, 

 spindle-shaped, and assembled into bundles 

 from the centre of which rises the stem. 

 The flowers, in the examples first intro- 

 duced, were single, with a yellow disk and 

 dull scarlet rays having a velvety surface. 

 The seeds of these soon produced flowers 

 of various tints, some double, others varie- 

 gated. Flowers of a better colour and 

 form were successively propagated; in 

 some the petals, or rather florets (for 

 in what is called the 'double Dahlia 'the 

 fulness of the flower is owing to the con- 

 version of disk into ray florets), as- 

 sumed the shape of a horn or funnel with 



singular regularity, in others the florets 

 were arranged in the form of a perfect 

 rose. Finally, in the course of years, hoi - - 

 ticulturists flatter themselves that they 

 have brought the Dahlia to the highest 

 point of beauty, though among the nume- 

 rous seedlings raised every year, there are 

 constantly occurring individuals which are 

 considered as surpassing their predeces- 

 sors in some point of floral excellence. A 

 race of pompons with remarkably small 

 flower-heads has been obtained. [C. A. J.] 



DAIS. A genus of Thymelacew or Dapli- 

 nacece. Its characters are : flowers sur- 

 rounded by an involucre ; calyx coloured, 

 funnel-shaped, with a four or five-divided 

 limb, and without scales in its throat ; sta- 

 mens eight to ten in two rows, included 

 within the calyx ; no hypogynous scales ; 

 ovary one-celled, with a single pendulous 

 ovule. Fruit a drupe enclosed by the per- 

 sistent calyx ; albumen fleshy ; embryo 

 orthotropal. Shrubby plants found at the 

 Cape of Good Hope and in the tropical and 

 subtropical parts of Asia. There are seven 

 known species. [J. H.B.] 



DAISY. The common name for Bellis. 

 — , AFRICAN. Athanasia annua. — , 

 AUSTRALIAN. Vittadenia triloba. —, 

 BLUE. Globularia vulgaris. — , CHRIST- 

 MAS. A popular name for some of the 

 species of Aster. — , MICHAELMAS. A 

 popular garden name for Aster, especially 

 for A. Tradescanti. — , OXEYE. Chrysanthe- 

 mum Leucanthemum. — , SWAN-RIVER. 

 Brachycome iberidifolia. 



DAISY-STAR. Bellidiastrum. 



DALBERGIA. A large genus of legu- 

 minous forest? trees and climbing shrubs 

 principally inhabiting the tropics of the 

 Eastern Hemisphere. Most of the species 

 have pinnate leaves with numerous leaflets 

 arranged alternately, but sometimes re- 

 duced to three leaflets only. The flowers 

 are borne in axillary racemes, and have a 

 bell-shaped calyx, the mouth of which is 

 cut into five divisions, a papilionaceous 

 corolla, and nine to ten stamens, either all 

 joined together into a sheath, which is 

 split along the upper side, or divided into 

 two equal bundles of five each. The pods 

 are thin, very much flattened, not winged, 

 and either long and straight, or short and 

 crescent-shaped, containing one or several 

 flat seeds 



D. latifolia, the Black-wood or East 

 Indian Rose-wood tree, and the Sit-sal of 

 the Bengalese, is common on the Malabar 

 and Coromandel coasts, and forms a mag- 

 nificent tree, yielding one of the most 

 valuable furniture woods. The timber is 

 procurable in planks four feet broad, ex- 

 clusive of the sap-wood, and is of a dark 

 purplish colour, very heavy, close-grained, 

 and susceptible of a fine polish. It comes 

 to this country under the names of Black- 

 wood and East Indian Rosewood, but it 

 has not the agreeable perfume of the true 

 rosewood, nor is it marked with the black 

 lines of resinous matter which add so 

 much to the beauty and value of the Brazi- 



