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D R A 
in botany, a genus of the clafs tetradynamia, order filicu- 
1 l i, natural order filiquofae or cruciformes, (cruciferae, 
Ju[f .) The generic characters are—Calyx: perianthium 
•four-leaved ; leaflets ovate, concave, from eredt fpread- 
ing; deciduous. Corolla: four-petalled, cruciform; 
petals oblong, f'omewhat fpreading; with very fmall 
claws. Stamina : filaments fix, length of the calyx: of 
thefe the four oppofite ones fomewhat longer, from ereCt 
fpreading;. anthene fimple. Piftillum: germ ovate; 
ftvle lcarce any ; (tigma headed, flat. Pericarpium : fili- 
cle elliptic-oblong, comprelfed, entire, dcfiitute of ftyle, 
two-celled; diflepiment parallel with the valves ; valves 
plano-concave. Seeds: feveral, fmall, roundifh.— EJf:n- 
tial Character . Silicle, entire, oval-oblong; valves, flat- 
ti(h, parallel to the diflepiment; ftyle, none. Hence it 
is eafily diftinguiflied from Alyflum, Subularia, and 
Lunaria. 
Species. r. Draba aizoides, or hairy-leaved alpine 
whitlow-grafs: fcape naked, fimple; leaves enfiform, 
keeled, ciliate. It very much refembles D. alpina, 
from which however it differs, in the leaves being even, 
linear, keeled, ciliate; not oval-oblong, rough-haired, 
without any keel. It differs from D. ciliaris in having 
the root-leaves forming a clofe tuft, giving it the air of a 
Sedum; the keel even; not alternate leaves on the 
branches fpreading, and a ciliate keel. The flowers alfo 
are yellow, as in D. alpina, not white. Root perennial ; 
ftem three inches high ; petals entire; filicle hairy, rough, 
ovate, fharp at both ends, ending in a long ftyle, four 
lines in length ; the cells having fix to eight feeds, which 
are round and flatted. It is well adapted to rockwork, 
and is a pretty plant with a pleafant fmell. Native of 
the mountains of France, Swifferland, Savoy, Auftria, 
Carniola, Silefia, See. feen on mount Saleve near Geneva, 
April 13, 1779 ; in our gardens it flowers fo early as Fe¬ 
bruary. 
2. Draba ciliaris, or ciliate-leaved whitlow-grafs : 
ftem almoft naked, leaves linear, ciliate about the edge 
and along the keel ; petals entire. It differsTrom the 
foregoing, in the leaves being narrower and fmooth, and 
the petals not in the leaft emarginate. In a ftate of cul¬ 
tivation it branches out with remote leaves. Native of 
Provence, in dry rocky places. 
3. Draba alpina, or alpine whitlow-grafs : fcape naked, 
fimple ; leaves lanceolate, quite entire ; petals emargi¬ 
nate. Stem leaftefs, with a few hairs fcattered about it ; 
not one-leafed or fmooth. Gouan thus diftinguiflies this 
from the firft fort. It has fewer leaves, ovate, a little 
longer, very often toothed towards the end, and rough 
with hair; ftem often naked, but fometimes it has a leaf 
or two on it; this alfo is rough with hairs; flowers fub- 
racemed, at firft corymbed; calyx hairy; the leaflets 
membranaceous and coloured at the edge, as in D. ai¬ 
zoides. Native of the Alps of Europe. 
4. Draba verna, common or fpring whitlow-grafs : 
fcapesnaked, leaves fomewhat ferrate, often very entire; 
petals divided. Root annual; ftems about three inches 
high, one to five or more from the fame root in a rich 
foil; fmooth after flowering, but hairy when young; 
fee’ds ovate, brown, fixed to the edge of the partition ; 
from three to fix in a cell according to Scopoli, but fome¬ 
times as many as twenty-four. By thefe it propagates it- 
felf prodigioufly, and is a weed hardly to be eradicated 
in dry paftures, gravel-walks of gardens, &c. Linnaeus 
obferves that the flowers hang down in the night and in 
wet weather: that in Smoland they fow rye when this 
plant is in bloflbm ; and that in dry foils whole fields are 
covered with the flowers early in the fpring. With 11s it 
is common on walls, dry banks, fields, and paftures,- 
flowering in March and April, or earlier if the weather 
be mild. In fome countries abundance of this little plant 
is fuppofed to prognofticate dearnefs of corn; which 
may have fome foundation, as a wet feafon produces a 
^great crop of this little weed, which according to fome 
ii agreeable to llieep. Gerarde calls it whiteblowe, or 
D R A 
whitlowe-grafle, or naile woort. This {mall plant may 
ferve as an index of the difference of climates ; for in 
Sw’eden it flowers in the month of April ; in Germany a 
month earlier; in England, Holland, and France, in Fe¬ 
bruary ; whilft in Sicily it flowers all the winter. 
5. Draba pyrenaica, or pyrenean whitlow-grafs ; fcape 
naked; leaves wedge-fhaped, palmate, three-lobed. This 
is a perennial plant, feldom more than two inches high ; 
it has a fhrubby ftalk, dividing into many fmall heads; 
leaves fmall, the lower ones have five fhort narrow lobes, 
the upper have but three ; the flowers come out in clufters, 
fitting clofe to the leaves : they are of a bright purple 
colour, and appear early in the fpring. Native of the 
mountains of Swifferland, in the canton of Appenzel, 
Provence, Carniola, Auftria, and Piedmont; flowering 
in May. 
6 . Draba muralis, or wall whitlow-grafs : ftem branch¬ 
ed ; leaves ovate, feflile, toothed. It rifes with an up¬ 
right branching ftalk about ten inches high, terminated 
by loofe fpikes of white flowers, which appear the be¬ 
ginning of May. Native of Sweden, Swifferland, Ger¬ 
many, fouth of France, Italy, in fiffures of rocks ; Mr. 
Ray found it near Montpellier, and between Lucca and 
Pifa, in hedges ; with us, in Derbyihire, Yorkfhire, and 
Weftmoreland ; common about Malhant. The wood va¬ 
riety D. nemorofa, being fowed with the muralis in a gar¬ 
den, they became fo alike as not to be diftinguiflied by 
any means, the yellow flowers becoming white. 
7. Draba hirta, or rough-leaved whitlow-grafs : fcape 
one-leafed; leaves fubhirfute ; iiliclesoblique, pedicelled. 
Refembles D. incana very much, but the ftem is naked 
with a Angle lanceolate leaf in the middle of it. Silicles 
fmooth, like thole of D. verna, but narrower, terminated 
by the ftiort ftyle with a headed ftigma. Native of Lap- 
land, Denmark, Provence, Swifferland, Silefia, Auftria, 
Piedmont, in the fiffures of rocks : flowering in May. 
Mr. Dickfon found the D.Jlcllata, or hirta of Jacquin, in 
Scotland, on Ben Lawers. Jacquin, in his Obfcrvationes , 
fays that his Jlellata is the hirta of Linnaeus, but that in the 
Auftrian plants the filicles are ufually ftraight, very feldom 
oblique. Though he gave up his Jldlata as a fpecies, yet 
it feems to be different front Linnams’s hirta. 
8. Draba fladnizenfis, or fcentlefs whitlow-grafs : fcape 
two-leaved ; leaves fmooth, ciliate ; filicles ftraight, pe¬ 
dicelled. Native of Carinthia. 
9. Draba incana, or hoary whitlow-grafs : ftem-leaves 
numerous, hoary; filicles oblong, oblique, fubfefiile. 
Root biennial ; root-leaves very numerous, fpreading like 
the flower of a rofe, lanceolate, tomentofe and fomewhat 
hairy, entire, acute ; ftem a hand in height, ftiff, hoary, 
clothed with many leaves (frequently more than thirty), 
very like the root-leaves, but fliorter, fo that the upper- 
moft'are ovate, feflile, and have a few teeth ; on the lower 
part of the ftem they are more crowded. Native of Lap- 
land, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Britain, as in Weft¬ 
moreland, Yorkfliire about Settle, and near the fummit 
of Jngleborough ; Scotland, as in Ida, Skye, &c. Wales 
in Caernarvonfliire. It flowers in May and June. 
Propagation and Culture. Thefe plants are eafily propa¬ 
gated by parting the heads in autumn ; for they fhoot up 
to flower very early in the fpring. They will thrive and 
flower annually, in a moift foil, and fltady fituation ; and 
require no other culture but to be kept clean from weeds. 
Some of the fpecies are proper to adorn rock-work, and 
they all profper beft in that fituation. See Arabis, 
Cochlearia, Iberis, Lepidium, Lobelia, and Sisym¬ 
brium. 
. DRAB'BING,y. Affociating with drabs.—Drinking, 
fencing, fwearing, quarrelling, drabbing. Skakefpeare. 
DRA'BOWICE, a towm of Poland, in the palatinate 
of Kiov : thirty-fix miles fouth-weft of Czerkafy. 
DRAG, a river of France, which runs into the Ifere, 
near Grenoble. 
DRAC-Ti'NA, y the female of fyxxw, a 
dragon.] In botany, a genus of the clafs hexandria, or¬ 
der 
