synonym
A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...
''Sansevieria formosa'', is a species of '' Dracaena'' native to
Malawi
Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...
. It was originally collected at the Kapichira Falls in south Malawi.
Taxonomy
The species was originally described in 2012 by B. Juan Chahinian as ''Sansevieria formosa''. However, it was renamed ''Dracaena malawiana'' in 2018, when all ''
Sansevieria
''Sansevieria'' is a historically recognized genus of flowering plants, native to Africa, notably Madagascar, and southern Asia, now included in the genus '' Dracaena'' on the basis of molecular phylogenetic studies. Common names for the 70 or s ...
'' species were moved to the genus ''Dracaena''. The species could not be named ''Dracaena formosa'' as that name had already been used by W.Bull in 1874 and is now considered a synonym of ''
Cordyline fruticosa
''Cordyline fruticosa'' is an evergreen flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae. The plant is of great cultural importance to the traditional animistic religions of Austronesian and Papuan peoples of the Pacific Islands, New Zealand, Isla ...