Leaves
spirally arranged, often congested terminally in pseudo-whorls, strap- or sword-shaped, smooth, entire, acute with clasping bases
Infloresences
terminal panicles of simple or branched racemes; peduncle often with reduced leaves in transition to tiny scarious floral bracts
Flowers
whitish, fragrant, nocturnal; pedicel consisting of a basal part turning into a persistent peg, and a stalk-like obconical receptacle persistent in fruit
Perianth
tubular with 6 recurving lobes
Stamens
arising in throat, opposite and equal to lobes; filaments inflated
Fruit
a globose or lobed, orange-scarlet berry
Seeds
1-3, large, rounded, bony
x = 10 (7, 8, 19) (aneuploids, high polyploidy)
Nomenclature:
Dracaena
L.
Linnaeus: 246 (1767)
Baker: 274 (1896)
Bos: 1 (1992)
Venter: 62 (1996)
Distribution & Notes:
Global
: Species ± 60 in warmer regions of the world, notably Africa and SE Asia
Southern Africa
: Species 3, Northern Province, Mpumalanga, Swaziland, KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape
References:
BAKER, J.G. 1896.
Dracaena
.
Flora capensis
6
BOS, J.J. 1992.
Dracaena
.
Flora of southern Africa
5, 3
LINNAEUS, C. 1767.
Systema naturae
, edn 12, 2. Laurentius Salvius, Stockholm
VENTER, F. 1996. The genus
Dracaena
L. in South Africa.
Aloe
33
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