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DRACAENA

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 463 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DRACAENA , in See also:

botany, a genus of the natural See also:order See also:Liliaceae, containing about fifty See also:species in the warmer parts of the Old See also:World. They are trees or shrubs with See also:long, generally narrow leaves, panicles of small whitish See also:flowers, and berried See also:fruit. The most remarkable species is Dracaena See also:Draco, the See also:dragon-See also:tree of the See also:Canary Isles, which reaches a See also:great See also:size and See also:age. The famous specimen in See also:Teneriffe, which was blown down by a See also:hurricane in 1868, when measured by See also:Alexander von See also:Humboldt, was 70 ft. high, with a circumference of 45 ft. several feet above the ground. A See also:resin exuding from the See also:trunk is known as dragon's See also:blood (q.v.). Many of the cultivated so-called Dracaenas belong to the closely-allied genus Cordyline. They are grown for the beauty of See also:form, See also:colour and variegation of their foliage and are extremely useful as decorative See also:stove See also:plants or summer greenhouse plants, or for See also:room and table decoration. They are easy to grow and may be increased by cuttings planted in sandy See also:soil in a temperature of from 65° to 70° by See also:night, the See also:spring being the best See also:time for See also:propagation. The old stems laid See also:flat in a propagating See also:frame will push See also:young shoots, which may be taken off with a See also:heel when 2 or 3 in. long, and planted in sandy See also:peat in 3-in. pots; the tops can also be taken off and struck. The established plants do best in fibry peat made porous by See also:sand. In summer they should have a See also:day temperature of 750, and in_ See also:winter one of 65°. Shift as required, using coarser soil as the pots become larger.

By the end of the summer the small cuttings will have made niceplants, and in the spring following they can be kept growing by the use of manure See also:

water twice a See also:week. Those intended for the conservatory should be gradually inured to more See also:air by See also:mid-summer, but kept out of See also:cold See also:draughts. When the plants get too large they can be headed down and the tops used for cuttings. A large number of the See also:garden species of Dracaena are varieties of Cordyline terminalis. D. Goldieana is a grandly variegated species from See also:west tropical See also:Africa, and requires more See also:heat.

End of Article: DRACAENA

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DRACHMANN, HOLGER HENRIK HERBOLDT (1846-1908)

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