The “Dragon-Tree” of the Kentish Rag

• Published in: The Geologist
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1862
• Subjects: Canada; Hudson; Hudson Bay; Pacific
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1359465600002343; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1359465600002343

Mr. Bensted, in his ‘Notes on the Geology of Maidstone’ (p. 336) has referred to certain vegetable remains from the Kentish rag-beds of his quarry, under the title of Dracœna Benstedii and under this name the specimen stands recorded in Professor Morris's Catalogue. The entry there is “ Dracœna (Linn.) Benstedii , König, Mus. Brit., L. G. S., Maidstone,” but the name of the class is not given, whether by omission or from some special reason we are not aware. The recent Dracœnœ are referred by botanists to the Liliaceæ, and the best-known species is that which supplies the fine pigment used by house-grainers, and commonly known as “Dragon's blood.” The Dragon-trees form a most extraordinary and celebrated genus of monocotyledonous vegetables. They belong to the Asparagus family; and with the appearance and interior organization of the Palms, they are said to approach them still nearer in their fructification. All the kinds are said to delight in arid soils, and to flourish on the shores by the sea, ranging from that level to eight hundred or a thousand yards on the mountains. Twenty to twenty-five species are recorded as natural to intertropical regions—India, China, the islands of the Pacific, Cape of Good Hope, and the coast and islands of South Africa. One only exists in the northern part of the American continent, in the far north of Canada, or on the borders of the icy regions of Hudson. Bay.