CONSER VA TORF DRA C&NA S. 



215 



grows to a height of 9 feet or more, and is very effective cither in a young state or 

 when the head is borne on a long clear stem. It forms graceful leaves, green in colour, 

 2 to 4 feet long, and 1 to 2 inches broad. D. i. atropurpiirea is of the same character, 

 with leaves having a dark purple midrib and base. D. i. lineata has broader leaves than 

 the type, and these are stained with reddish pink at the base. D. i. Veitchi resembles 

 the original species with this pleasing variation— the midrib and sheathing base are 

 deep red in colour. C. striata, from Moreton Bay, is of a more rigidly-erect habit of 

 growth than the preceding. The leaves are 2 to 2§ feet long and upwards of 1 inch 

 wide, green, and striated with numerous parallel nerves. C. s. congesta has broader 

 leaves in greater numbers than in the type. All the foregoing are greenhouse species, 

 those requiring more heat receiving attention in the chapter devoted to stove plants. 

 (Pp. 32G-329, Vol. II.) 



Kaising and Increasing Dracaenas. 

 These dracsenas, when they attain to a large size, flower profusely and seed freely. 

 It is from seeds that the best stock of handsome plants can be most expeditiously raised. 

 Seeds should be sown in February or March in pans or pots of sandy soil, burying 

 1 inch deep. Plunge the pots or pans in a brisk bottom heat, or in a temperature of 

 75° to 80°. The seedlings ought to be placed singly in small pots and grown in gentle 

 heat. When growing strongly, expose them to more light and air, and before the pots 

 become crowded with roots, move into larger sizes. They must not be crowded at any 

 time, but should be raised on inverted pots well up to the light in an airy greenhouse. 

 At the end of the second year they will have developed into handsome serviceable plants. 

 The tops of greenhouse dracsenas do not emit roots in heat so readily as do those of the 

 heat-loving species, nor are they often propagated from root cuttings. If, after taking 

 off the tops of moderately tall plants, the stems are induced to form numerous side 

 growths in a long succession, each, when about 4 inches long, may be removed with a 

 heel of old wood attached, and placed either singly in the centre of a small pot, or round 

 the sides of well-drained 5-inch pots filled with peaty soil. Plunge these in a bottom - 

 heat of 75° to 80°. Old stems of not much more than ^ inch in diameter may be cut 

 into 1 to 2 inch lengths, inserting these to their full depth round the sides of 5-inch 

 pots filled with peaty soil, and plunging in a brisk bottom heat. When roots have 

 formed and top growth has commenced, pot these cutting-raised plants singly and 

 otherwise treat similarly to seedlings. This class of dracaena are not particular as to 



