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Dracaena (female dragon; the dried juice supposed to resemble dragon's blood). Liliaceae. Dracena. Ornamental hothouse or stove plants, frequently with variegated leaves.
Often arborescent, with sword-shaped or broad lvs. mostly crowded at the summit of the st.: fls. clustered in panicles or heads, greenish-white or yellowish; perianth salver-form or campanulate; lobes 6, spreading; stamens 6: fr. a 3-celled berry. Differs from Cordy-line in having larger fls., and solitary instead of many ovules in each cell of the ovary.—About 40 tropical woody plants, a few being in cult. See Baker, Journ. Linn. Soc., vol. 14, for a monograph of the genus.
Dracaena Draco, of the Canaries, is the dragon tree. It reaches a height of 30 to 60 feet, branching when of great age. The dragon tree of Teneriffe, famous for centuries, was 70 feet high, and one of the oldest of known trees. See Cordyline for other names not found in this article; also for culture.
The following key to the cultivated species of both Dracaena and Cordyline is based upon the lvs.
The following are apparently not in the American trade: D. americana, Donnell Smith. Twenty to 40ft. high: lvs. linear-sword- shape, S-15 in. long, green: flu. white, small, in dense panicles. Allied to D. Draco. Cent. Amer. S.T.S. 1:207. New.—D. arborea. Link. Lvs. green, sword-shaped, dense, sessile. Gt. 40:1438; and p. 226. G.W. 8:200; 12:232.— D. Broomfieldii, Hort. Lvs. spreading or recurved, strap-shaped, undulate, sessile, deep green bordered with broad white margins. J.H. III. 33:541. G.C. III. 20:667; 23:249; 33:249 (var.) G. 27:597. G.W. 13:4.— Botanical status obscure. —D. concinna, Kunth. Lvs. oblanceolate, green, purple on the margin, green-petioled. — D. cylindrica, Hook. Lvs. linear-lanceolate, or obovate-lanceolate, bright green, spreading. B.M. 5846. —D. Eeckhantii, Hort. F.R. 4:46. Gn.W. 16:697.—D. elliptica. Thunb. Lvs. spreading, petioled, thickish, elliptic-lanceolate, glossy, acute, longitudinally striate. B.M. 4787. G.C. II. 17:261 (var. maculata).—D. ensifolia, Hort. Amer.=Dianella ensifolia. —D. kewensii, Hort. Lvs. dark green, broadly oblong-lanceolate- acute: petiole red, half as long as the blade. New Caledonia. New. May be a form of C. terminalis. G.C. III. 33:265. F.E. 15:619.— D. marginata, Lam. Lvs. sword-shaped, dense, spreading, green, margined and veined with red. G.W. 12:235.—D. marmorata. Hort. B.M. 7078.—D. phrynioides. Hook. Lvs. petioled, mostly oval, acuminate, coriaceous, spotted with yellowish white, pale beneath. B.M. 5352.—D. reflexa. Lam. Lvs. lanceolate or sword- shaped, acute, contracted into a petiole.—D. Saposchnikowi, Regel. Lvs. sword-shaped, crowded, green. Gt. 705.—D. Smithii, Baker. Lvs. large, narrowly sword-shaped, crowded, bright green. B.M. 6169.
Some trade names, the botanical status of which is in doubt, are the following: alba-marginata, albanensis, Alexandria, angustifolia, angustata,argenteo-striata, DeSmetiana, edmontoniensis, elefantissima, Elizabethiae, Frederica, Hendersonii, impercator, Jamesii, Janssesii, Lacourtii, Mayi, Mandaeana, Offeri, perelyares, recurva, Salmonea, Sheperdii, spectabilis. D. nova-caledonica is probably Cordyline neo-caledonica, Lindl., with bronze lvs. K. M. Wieqand.
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