THE GEOLOGIST. 



NOVEMBER 18G2. 



THE "DHAGON-TEEE" OF THE KENTISH EAG. 



Mr. Bensted, in his ' Notes on the Geology of Maidstone ' (p. 336) 

 lias referred to certain vegetable remains from the Kentish rag-beds 

 of his quarry, under tlie title of Draccena Benstedii ; and under this 

 name the specimen stands recorded in Professor Morris's Catalogue. 

 The entry there is '"''Draccena (Linn.) Benstedii, Konig, Mus. Brit., 

 L. G. S., Maidstone," but the name of the class is not given, whether by 

 omission or from some special reason we are not aware. The recent 

 DracasncB are referred by botanists to the Liliacese, and the best- 

 known species is that which supplies the fine pigment used by house- 

 grainers, and commonly known as "Dragon's blood." 



The Dragon-trees form a most extraordinary and celebrated genus 

 of monocotyledonous vegetables. They belong to the Asparagus 

 family ; and with the appearance and interior organization of the 

 Palms, they are said to approach them still nearer in their fructifi- 

 cation. 



All the kinds are said to delight in arid soils, and to flourish on 

 the shoi'cs by the sea, ranging from that level to eight hundred or a 

 tliousand yards on the mountains. 



Twenty to twenty-five species are recorded as natural to inter- 

 tropical regions — India, China, the islands of the Pacific, Cape of 

 Good Hope, and the coast and islands of South Africa. One only 

 exists in the nortliern part of the American continent, in tlu^ far 

 north of Canada, or on the borders of the icy regions of Hudson 

 Bay. 



VOL. v. 3 F 



