Observations on Dracæna reflexa, Mm. 
BY 
HERBERT WRIGHT. 
(With Plate III.) 
T he absence of cauline branching in the vegetative 
system among the commoner monocotyledonous plants 
and its prevalence among dicotyledons is a familiar fact. 
In several monocotyledons, however, a definite system of 
branching occurs, e.g., in the Pandanaceæ,"*^ Palmæ,t and 
some tribes of Liliaceæ. 
In the last-named order the occasional branching and often 
bushy habit of species of Yucca and Asparagus, the more 
marked semblance to an arborescent type exemplified in 
species of Cordyline, and the magnificent tree-like form of 
species of Dracæna are examples which may be mentioned. 
The genus Dracæna has long been known as containing 
species which assume an arborescent type approximating 
to that of dicotyledonous trees. D. Draco, L., even when 
growing under a condition of open canopy, possesses a well- 
defined leader, which when old branches considerably, each 
ultimate twig being terminated by a tuft of crowded linear- 
lanceolate leaves. The famous specimen of Teneriffe was 
one of the most gigantic, and, according to Humboldt, the 
* Schumann, Die Verzweigung der Pandanaceen. Engl. Jahrb. XXIII., 
1897, p. 559. 
t Drude, inEngler andPrantl, Die Nat. Pflanzenfamilien, Palmæ, p. 9. 
Morris, The Phenomena concerned in the production of Forked and 
Branched Palms. Journ. Linn. Soc. XXIX., 1893, p. 281. 
[Annals of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, Vol I., Pt. II., December, 1901.] 
