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''Dracaena fragrans'' (cornstalk dracaena), is a
''Dracaena fragrans''
/ref> It is also known as striped dracaena, compact dracaena, and corn plant.
''Dracaena fragrans'' is a slow growing shrub, usually multistemmed at the base, mature specimens reaching or more tall with a narrow crown of usually slender erect branches. Stems may reach up to diameter on old plants; in forest habitats they may become horizontal with erect side branches. Young plants have a single unbranched stem with a rosette of leaves until the growing tip flowers or is damaged, after which it branches, producing two or more new stems; thereafter, branching increases with subsequent flowering episodes.Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening'' 2: 96. Macmillan .
The leaves are glossy green, lanceolate, long and wide; small leaves are erect to spreading, and larger leaves usually drooping under their weight. The
In Africa, ''D. fragrans'' is commonly grown as a
flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
that is native
Native may refer to:
People
* Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth
* Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory
** Native Americans (disambiguation)
In arts and entert ...
throughout tropical Africa, from Sudan south to Mozambique
Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
, west to Côte d'Ivoire and southwest to Angola, growing in upland regions at altitude.JSTOR Plant Science''Dracaena fragrans''
/ref> It is also known as striped dracaena, compact dracaena, and corn plant.
Description
''Dracaena fragrans'' is a slow growing shrub, usually multistemmed at the base, mature specimens reaching or more tall with a narrow crown of usually slender erect branches. Stems may reach up to diameter on old plants; in forest habitats they may become horizontal with erect side branches. Young plants have a single unbranched stem with a rosette of leaves until the growing tip flowers or is damaged, after which it branches, producing two or more new stems; thereafter, branching increases with subsequent flowering episodes.Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening'' 2: 96. Macmillan .
The leaves are glossy green, lanceolate, long and wide; small leaves are erect to spreading, and larger leaves usually drooping under their weight. The flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...
s are produced in panicles
A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are o ...
long, the individual flowers are diameter, with a six-lobed corolla, pink at first, opening white with a fine red or purple central line on each of the lobes; they are highly fragrant, and popular with pollinating insects. The fruit is an orange-red berry diameter, containing several seeds.
Cultivation
In Africa, ''D. fragrans'' is commonly grown as a hedge
A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced shrubs and sometimes trees, planted and trained to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties. Hedges that are used to separate a road from adjoini ...
plant. It is suited to frost-free climates and USDA
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...
Hardiness zone
A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most wide ...
s 10-11. Elsewhere, it is primarily popular as a houseplant
A houseplant, sometimes known as a pot plant, potted plant, or an indoor plant, is an ornamental plant that is grown indoors. As such, they are found in places like residences and offices, mainly for decorative purposes. Common houseplants are us ...
and valued for its tolerance of a wide range of indoor conditions, from bright indirect light, to bright shade (which brings out more variegation in certain hybrids) and even deep shade (where it will have a darker green color). It is also very tolerant of neglect. The NASA Clean Air Study
__NOTOC__
The NASA Clean Air Study was a project led by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in association with the Associated Landscape Contractors of America (ALCA) in 1989, to research ways to clean the air in sealed envir ...
indicated that the plant aided removal of indoor pollutants such as formaldehyde
Formaldehyde ( , ) (systematic name methanal) is a naturally occurring organic compound with the formula and structure . The pure compound is a pungent, colourless gas that polymerises spontaneously into paraformaldehyde (refer to section F ...
, xylene
In organic chemistry, xylene or xylol (; IUPAC name: dimethylbenzene) are any of three organic compounds with the formula . They are derived from the substitution of two hydrogen atoms with methyl groups in a benzene ring; which hydrogens are sub ...
, and toluene
Toluene (), also known as toluol (), is a substituted aromatic hydrocarbon. It is a colorless, water-insoluble liquid with the smell associated with paint thinners. It is a mono-substituted benzene derivative, consisting of a methyl group (CH3) at ...
. The plant is known as "masale
''Dracaena fragrans'' (cornstalk dracaena), is a flowering plant species that is native throughout tropical Africa, from Sudan south to Mozambique, west to Côte d'Ivoire and southwest to Angola, growing in upland regions at altitude.JSTOR Plant ...
" to the Chagga people
The Chaga or Chagga (Swahili language: WaChaga) are Bantu-speaking indigenous Africans and the third-largest ethnic group in Tanzania. They traditionally live on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro and eastern Mount Meru in both Kilimanjaro Regi ...
of Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
, who regard it as holy.
In cultivation, in the Neotropics
The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropics, tropical Ecoregion#Terrestrial, terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperat ...
, a few generalist hummingbird species, like the sapphire-spangled emerald
The sapphire-spangled emerald (''Chionomesa lactea'') is a species of hummingbird in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is regularly found in Bolivia, Brazil, Peru, and Venezuela; as a vagrant in Argentina; and has po ...
(''Chionomesa lactea''), visit the flowers.
Cultivars
Severalcultivar
A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...
s have variegated
Variegation is the appearance of differently coloured zones in the leaves and sometimes the stems and fruit of plants. Species with variegated individuals are sometimes found in the understory of tropical rainforests, and this habitat is the s ...
foliage. 'Massangeana' (also commonly called "Mass Cane"), has a bright-yellow central stripe on the foliage. 'Compacta' is more compact and suitable for indoor cultivation, with smaller, flatter and slightly pointed leaves. Some of the most popular cultivars include 'Janet Craig', 'Lemon Lime', and 'Warneckei' ('Warneckii'), which are often sold under the synonym ''D. deremensis''.
The cultivars 'Lemon Lime', ‘Massangeana’, and 'Warneckei' bear the Royal Horticultural Society
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity.
The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...
's Award of Garden Merit
The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions.
History
The Award of Garden Merit ...
.
Propagation
''Dracaena fragrans'' can be propagated bycutting
Cutting is the separation or opening of a physical object, into two or more portions, through the application of an acutely directed force.
Implements commonly used for wikt:cut, cutting are the knife and saw, or in medicine and science the scal ...
segments of old stems, about long, drying them in shade for a day, and then inserting them into moist perlite
Perlite is an amorphous volcanic glass that has a relatively high water content, typically formed by the hydration of obsidian. It occurs naturally and has the unusual property of greatly expanding when heated sufficiently. It is an industrial m ...
, sphagnum moss
''Sphagnum'' is a genus of approximately 380 accepted species of mosses, commonly known as sphagnum moss, peat moss, also bog moss and quacker moss (although that term is also sometimes used for peat). Accumulations of ''Sphagnum'' can store wa ...
and/or sand, until they root. Signs of new root growth are usually indicated as new leaves emerging. Lateral, bushy stem growth (typically being two or three shoots) comes from old foliar scars, from the leaf “eyes” that are located growing up along the entire stem. Additionally, anywhere a cutting is made (at any point along the stem) is likely to be where new stems will form, where a leaf once grew.
Etymology and synonymy
The species name refers to the fragrant flowers, while the English name derives from a perceived resemblance of the stem to acorn
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...
(''Zea mays'') stalk. Synonyms include ''Aletris fragrans'' L. (basionym), ''Cordyline fragrans'' (L.) Planch., ''Pleomele fragrans'' (L.) Salisb., ''Sansevieria fragrans'' (L.) Jacq., ''Dracaena deremensis'' Engl., ''Dracaena smithii'' Hook.f., and ''Dracaena ugandensis'' Baker. Other English names include striped dracaena (for variegated cultivars), corn plant (for the cultivar 'Massangeana';), Chinese money tree, and fortune plant.MacDonald, Elvin "The World Book of House Plants" pp.238 Popular Books
The plant is known as - "bothal gas" (meaning "bottle tree") in Sinhala, in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
.
References
External links
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q133690 fragrans Flora of Ethiopia Flora of Sudan Flora of Kenya Flora of Tanzania Flora of Uganda Flora of Cameroon Flora of the Central African Republic Flora of Equatorial Guinea Flora of Ghana Flora of Guinea Flora of Nigeria Flora of Togo Flora of Angola Flora of Malawi Flora of Mozambique Flora of Zambia Flora of Zimbabwe House plants Low light plants pt:Dracaena