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Dracontium (Greek name applied)

(Greek name applied by Hippocrates to another plant, a diminutive of drakon, a dragon; in reference to its spots and streaks being like those on serpents). Dragon. ORD. Aroideoe (Araceoe). Stove plants, more remarkable then beautiful or ornamental. Flowers foetid, hermaphrodite, in a sessile spadix with a hooded spathe. Leaves stalked, pedate. Rhizome thick, fleshy. There are about six species, all natives of tropical America. For cultivation, see Amorphophallus.

D. albostipes (white-stalked). l. solitary, tripartite; divisions winged, and bearing irregularly dichotomous leaflets of a bright green colour; stalk or petiole tall, stout, scabrous at the base, tapering upwards, of a greyish-white, with distinct blotches of a darkish brown running round them in irregular bands. h. 3ft. Antioquia, 1877.

D. annulatum (ringed). l. of a bright green, tripartite, each division laterally branched on one side; petiole stoutish, erect, dull umber-brown, mottled in irregular rings with pale brown and whitish-brown markings. h. 3ft. Antioquia, 1877.

D. asperum (rough).* fl., spathe purplish-brown, erect, boat-shaped; spadix erect, cylindrical, about 2in. long. l. pedately divided into three (or five) main subdivisions, usually solitary, but sometimes two, spreading horizontally, 3ft. to 4ft. across; ultimate segments oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, entire; petiole 5ft. to 6ft. high, as thick as a man's thumb at the base gradually tapering upwards, with wavy bands or blotches of a purplish colour, mottled with white. 1869. SYNS. D. elatum (G. C. 1870, 344) and Amorphophallus nivosus. (Ref. B. 282.) D. Carderi (Carder's).* l. tripartite; divisions often twice dichotomous, with oblong segments and an irregularly-winged rachis; petiole tall, erect, slightly asperous near the base, of a dull flesh-colour, and freely banded with irregular blotchy rings of an umber-brown hue, the flesh-colour predominating. h. 3ft. Antioquia, 1877. (B. M. 6523.) D. elatum (tall). A synonym of D. asperum.

D. gigas (giant). fl., spathe bluish-brown outside, brownishred within, about 2ft. long, supported on a scape 3ft. long. l. solitary, broad, trichotomously divided, supra-decompound, nearly 4ft. long; ultimate divisions confluently pinnatifid; petiole yellow, beautifully barred and striped with purple. h. 10ft. Nicaragua, ?869. SYN. Godwinia gigas. (B. M. 6048.) D. polyphyllum (many-leaved). fl., inflorescence appearing after the entire decay of the foliage; spathe upon first opening emitting an abominable foetor. The plant figured in B. R. 700 flowered in December. l. supra-decompound, pedate. h. 2ft. India, 1759. A very singular species. (B. R. 700.)