CHAI’. CXVI.

lilia'cea:. yu'cca.

2525

£ 4. V. draco'nis L. The Dragon Yucca, or droo-ping-leaved .-Idurn's

Needle.

Identification. Lin. Sp., 457.; Reich., 2. p. 84.; Wiild., 2. 184.; Mart. Mill., No. 3. ; Ait. HortKew., ed. 2., 2. p. 291.; Desf . Hist, des Arb. et Arbrias., 1. p. 18.; Ham. Supp., p. 33.: Elliot FIS. Car., 1. 401.; L*>dd. Cat. , ed. 1836 ; Bon Jard., ed. 1837.

Synonymes . Y. dracftnis fblio serr&to refiexo Dill. Elth., 43?., Com. Prcel., 42. 67 .; Dractmiarbori, &c., Bauh. Pin. t 506.; Tacdri fblio Dracbni 4rboris slmili Bauh. Hist.

Engravings. Dill. Elth., 324. 117. j Bot. Reg., t. 1894.; and our Jig. 23y5.

Spec. Char., Sfc. Leaves crenated, nodding. ( Wiild .) Native of South Caro­ lina . Introduced in 1732, and flowering in October and November.

Description, Sfc. Stem rising to the height of 3 ft. or 4 ft. Leaves narrow,dark green, hanging down, serrated, and ending in acute spines. Flowerspendulous, milk-white, with a strong unpleasant smell. Gaertner describes thefruit as a fleshy oblong berry, contracted at the top, with a narrow aperturebetween the sessile stigmas; obscurely G-cornered and 6 -celled ; cuticle verythin, not separating; pulp firm, of a dark dusky 2395

blood-red colour ; three of the partitions thickerthan the other three, all longitudinal : betweenthese are transverse, membranaceous, very thin,white diaphragms, forming partial cells for eachof the seeds. Receptacle none, except the cen-tral angle of the cells, to which the seeds arefastened horizontally in a single longitudinal row.

Seeds numerous, spherically triangular; flattishon both sides, dark, but not shining. Thisspecies is a native of South Carolina , whenceMiller received the seeds under the name of oil-seed. It had, however, been previously intro-duced into Europe ; and it flowered in August, 1729, at Hamburg, in thegarden of M. Von Sprekelsen. The plant was 20 years old, with a trunk 8 ft.high, and the flower-stem was 2 ft. 6 in. long. The flowers were white,and about 150 in a thyrse. The seed-vessel was 3-celled; and the seedswere horny, wrinkled, and blackish when ripe. Y. draconis, says Dr. Lindley,in the Botanical Register for September, 1836, “ is one of the most statelyspecies of the genus. It grows along the sea shore of Carolina , frequentlyintermixed with Y. gloriosa; and flowers from May to August, and sometimesgrows as much as 9 ft. or 10 ft. high. The great peculiarity hy which it ap-pears to be distinguished is, the spreading of the flowers, the segments ofwhich, instead of remaining closed in a globose manner, as in most of theother species, expand till they diverge from the flower-stalk nearly at a rightangle. The main stem, clear of leaves, was [in the plant figured in the BotanicalRegister] 2 ft. long, and terminated in three clusters of leaves, from the centreof each of which rose a flower-stem 3 ft. high. The foliage, notwithstanding itsstiffness, does not offend the eye, as the leaves gradually turn back as theygrow old,” till at last they form a very graceful arrangement. “ Nothing canbe better adapted than these plants, for ornamenting either artificial or naturalmasses of rockwork, precipitous banks, or other situations where their sin-gular stems can be so much above the eye as to form a bold and prominentobject standing out in strong relief against the sky.” Y. draconis is perfectlyhardy, and stands out, without the slightest protection, in the nursery ofMessrs. Backhouse of York. There are also plants standing out in theHorticultural Society’s Garden at Chiswick , which “ no weather seems toharm.” {Bot. Reg.) Dr. Lindley also observes that yuccas are very suitablefor gardens near the sea coast, from that situation being similar to their nativehabitat.

® 5 . Y. stri'cta Sims. The upright Yucca, or Lyon’s narrow-leaved Adam's

Needle.

Identification. Sims in Bot. Mag., t. 2222.zngramngs. Bot. Mag., t. 2222.; and our Jig. 2396.