D R A 
D R A 
47 
der monogynla, natural order farmentacete, (afparagi. 
Tuff.) The generic characters are—Calyx : none. Co¬ 
rolla : petals fix, oblong, fomewhat upright, equal, coj- 
hering by the claws. Stamina : filaments fix, inferted 
into the claws, Tubulate, thicker in the middle, mem¬ 
branaceous at the bafe, length fcarcely of the corolla ; 
antherre oblong, incumbent. Piftillum : germ ovate, 
fix-ftriated; ftyle filiform, length of the ftamens; ftigma 
three-cleft, obtufe. Pericarpium : berry ovate ; fix-fur¬ 
rowed, three-celled. Seeds : folitary, ovate-oblong, in¬ 
curved at the tip. The character is aimoft that of afpa- 
ragus, the habit different.— EJfential GharaElcr. Corolla : 
fix-parted, erfeCt; filaments fomewhat thicker in the mid¬ 
dle ; berry three-celled, one-feeded. 
Species, i. Dracqsna draco, or dragon tree: arbore¬ 
ous: leaves fomewhat ffeftiy, with a thorny end. This 
riles with a thick trunk nearly equal in fize the \vhole 
length ; the inner part very pithy, next to this a circle of 
ftrong fibres, and the outfide foft; height twelve or four¬ 
teen feet, nearly of the fame diameter the whole length, 
which is rarely more than eight or ten inches; circular 
marks or rings are left the whole length, where the leaves 
have fallen off. The top fuftains a large head of thefe, 
coming out fingly all round it; they are lliaped like thole 
of the common iris, but are much longer, being often 
four or five feet in length, and an inch and half broad at 
their bafe, where they embrace the trunk ; they leffen 
gradually and terminate in a point : thefe leaves are 
pliable, and hang down ; they are entire, of a deep green, 
fmooth on both furfaces: it has the habit of the palms; 
the peduncles are furnifhed with a joint. Crantz has 
made two genera out of this fpecies, under the names of 
Oedera and Storckia. Native of the Eaft,Indies. Mr. 
Miller received a plant of it from the Cape Verd iflands, 
and feeds from Madeira. It is called dragon-tree, becaufe 
the infpiffated juice becomes a red powder, very like the 
eallern dragon’s blood. Cultivated in 1640, by Parkin- 
Ion ; who fowed the feeds, but they did not abide the 
winter. 
2. Dracaena ferrea, or purple dracaena: arboreous: 
leaves lanceolate, acute. Stem flirubby, aimoft iimple, 
eight feet high, eredt, round, with clofe protuberant 
rings from the fallen leaves; thefe are quite entire, a foot 
and half in length, eredt, fmooth, on ftem-clafping pe¬ 
tioles, and of a duiky-red colour; flowers red-purple, 
corolla bell-lhaped, fix-parted, inferior; fegments oblong, 
obtufe, fpreading; antherae fagittate, fharp, and bifid 
at the end ; ftyle awl-lhaped, thick, trifid, equal to the 
ftamens; berry red; the feed is ufually abortive. It 
feems to approach the palms. In Chinefe it is called 
tat-fio or tjiet-tfao ; and is planted in gardens.both there 
and in Cochin-china. Native of China; flow ers in March 
and April. 
3. Dracaena ftriata, or ftriated dracaena : frutefeent; 
caulefcent; erect; leaves lanceolate, obliquely fickle- 
form, ftriated; ftem flexuofe. Found at the Cape of 
Good Hope, by Thunberg. 
4. Dracaena terminalis, or canna-leaved dracaena : her¬ 
baceous ; caulefcent; leaves lanceolate. Native of the 
Eaft Indies, and the Society ifles. 
5. Dracaena enfifolia, or fw ord-leaved dracaena : her¬ 
baceous ; fubcaulefcent; leaves enfiform. This fpecies 
perhaps more properly belongs to the genus Medeola, for 
it differs remarkably from D. draco in the fruit. Native 
of the Eaft Indies, and Cochin-china. Loureiro fays, 
that if he had followed his own opinion, he fiiould rather 
have referred this plant to the genus Ornithogalum. 
6. Dracaena undulata, or undulated dracaena : herba¬ 
ceous ; caulefcent; eredt; leaves ovate, acute, many- 
nerved; flowers axillary, peduncled. 7. Dracaena me- 
deoloides, or medeola dracaena: herbaceous; twining; 
leaves ovate, nerved. 8. Dracaena eredta, or upright 
dracaena: herbaceous; caulefcent erect ; leaves lanceo¬ 
late, Tubulate, feftile. 9. Dracaena volubilis, or twining 
dracaena: herbaceous; twining; leaves lanceolate. Found 
at the Cape of Good Hope by Thunberg. Dracsena me- 
deoloides and Medeola afparagoides are probably one and 
the fame plant. 
10. Dracaena graminifolia, or grafs-leaved dracKna-. 
herbaceous; flemlefs ; leaves linear. Leaves like thofe 
of grafs, very much (Leaked, a fpan in length. Native 
of Alia. 
11. Dracaena marginata, or aloe-leaved dracaena:- 
flirubby; leaves tooth-fpiny; racemes axillary; berries 
many-feeded. Native of the ifland of Bourbon; flowers 
in April. 
12. Dracsena borealis, of oval-leaved dracaena ; herba¬ 
ceous ; fubcaulefcent; leaves elliptic. Native of New¬ 
foundland, Hudfon’s Bay, and Canada; flowers in June. 
13. Dractena indivifa, or entire dracaena : arboreous; 
leaves enfiform, acute; raceme compound. Native of 
New Zealand, in woods on the coaft of Dulky bay. Trunk 
round, full of fmall chinks, undivided, leafy at top, from 
fix to nine feet high ; leaves half-ftem-clafping, imbri¬ 
cate at the bafe, quite entire, fpreading, ftriated, bright 
green, two feet long and a hand broad ; berry globular, 
blue, marked above with three hollow dots, mucronate 
with the permanent ftyle, having about feven feeds in 
each cell, involved in an aril or membrane, fo as to appear 
only one ; they are black, fmooth, femilunar and three- 
fided. The generic character conftrucfed from the firft 
fpecies does not agree very well with this or D. termi¬ 
nalis, which have many feeds in their berries. Perhaps 
the berry of the firft alfo may be involved in an aril, and 
this may conftitute the effential difference between afpa- 
ragus and dracama. The berries of this fpecies are 
eaten by the natives ; they are ripe in May, that is, at 
the beginning of their winter. The young leaves, or 
rather the hybernacle concealed among them,’is an ex¬ 
cellent falad ; and this, together with Areca oleraceaand 
fapida, Apium graveolens or fmallage, Tetragonia hali- 
mifolia, Lepidium oleraceum and pifeidium, and Sonchus 
oleraceus or fowthiftle, was found to be of great fervice 
to our circumnavigators in refilling the putrid feurvy. 
14. Dracaena auftralis, or New Zealand dracaena: ar¬ 
boreous ; leaves enfiform, acute; raceme terminating, 
eredf, fuperdecompound. Native of New Zealand. 
Propagation and Culture, fee Palms. 
DRACH'ENFELS, a town of Germany, in the circle 
of the Lower Rhine, and capital of a diftricl, in the elec¬ 
torate of Cologn, with a citadel: four miles fouth-eaft of 
Bonn, -and feven north-north-weft of Linz. 
DRACHM, f. among the Greeks, a coin of the value 
of feven-pence three-farthings ; alio a weight, which they 
divided into fix oboli. 
DRACll'MA, f. from fyurlopa. 1, to grafp, it 
being about a handful; or rather from drac/imin, 
Heb.] A drachm. The eighth part of an ounce, contain¬ 
ing three fcruples or fixty grains. 
DR ACH'MON, f. [Heb.] An Hebrew gold coin, in 
value twenty-five (hillings. 
DRA'CIA, a river of Bofnia, which runs into the 
Drin, five miles north-esft of Orach. 
DRAC'KEMBURG, or Drakemburg, a town of 
Germany, in the county of Hoya, on the Wefer, where a 
bloody battle was fought in 1547, between the Imperial- 
ills and the Saxons : two leagues north of Nienburg. 
DRA'CO, the firft legiflator of the Athenians, B. C. 
624. The accounts of him, which have come down to 
modern times, are fuperficial and trifling ; it is only cer¬ 
tain that his laws were extremely levere, fo that they 
are faid to have been “ written in blood.” Death was 
the penalty for every kind of offence; for which he is 
faid to have given as a reafon, that “ fmall faults Teem¬ 
ed to him worthy of death, and he could find no higher 
puniftiment for the greateft crimes.” We are told, how¬ 
ever, that he 1b much abhorred the crime of taking, 
away life, as .to diredt that even inanimate things, which 
had been the inftruinents of Inch an adtion, lhould be 
prolecutsd; fo that a ft.ULie, which by falling had killed 
a man. 
