Short-leaved Dragon Tree (Dracaena brachyphylla) is an endemic species of Dragon Tree in India, but has recently also been found in tropical forests in the remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands, roughly situated between India and Malaysia in the Indian Ocean[1].
The Short-leaved Dragon Tree is a low shrub with leaves that range from 15 to 30 centimeters in lenght. The panicle - a branched raceme in which each branch has more than one flower – is erect, stiff, quite smooth and shorter than the leaves. The white flowers are about 2 centimeters large.
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The first part of its scientific name, Dracaena, is a feminine form of the Greek word Drakon and therefore means 'female dragon'. The second part, brachyphylla, is a combination word from the ancient Greek language, where brachus (from βραχυς) means 'short' and phyllos (from φυλλος) means 'leaf'. It describes the somewhat short leaves of this particular species.
The Andaman Islands first became known in popular literature in Arthur Conan Doyle's novel 'The Sign of Four' (1890).
[1] Sinha and Srivastava: Genus Dracaena Vandelli Ex L. in Andaman and Nicobar Islands in The Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India – 1996
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