Dracaena fragrans

(L.) Ker Gawler

Forest dracaena

AsparagaceaeFruitSome parts moderately toxic — see hazards

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(c) Jan Ho, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Jan Ho

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(c) budak, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by budak

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(c) Marco Schmidt, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), uploaded by Marco Schmidt

What to Eat

Edible parts: Fruit Poisonous

Known Hazards

Where to Find It

It is a tropical plant. It grows in the understorey in mountain forest. It grows between 600-2,250 m above sea level.

Africa*, Angola, Asia, Australia, Côte d'Ivoire, East Africa, Fiji, Indochina, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Kiribati, Marquesas, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pacific, Rotuma, SE Asia, Sudan, Thailand, Tuvalu, Uganda, West Africa, Zimbabwe,

Countries: United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Armenia, Angola, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Bahrain, Burundi, Benin, Brunei, Bhutan, Botswana, Congo (DRC), Central African Republic, Congo (Republic), Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, China, Cape Verde, Djibouti, Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Micronesia, Gabon, Georgia, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Israel, India, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Japan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Cambodia, Kiribati, Comoros, North Korea, South Korea, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Laos, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Liberia, Lesotho, Libya, Morocco, Madagascar, Marshall Islands, Mali, Myanmar, Mongolia, Mauritania, Mauritius, Maldives, Malawi, Malaysia, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Nepal, Nauru, New Zealand, Oman, French Polynesia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Pakistan, Palau, Qatar, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Solomon Islands, Seychelles, Sudan, Singapore, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan, Sao Tome & Principe, Syria, Eswatini, Chad, Togo, Thailand, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Tunisia, Tonga, Turkey, Tuvalu, Taiwan, Tanzania, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Vanuatu, Samoa, Yemen, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe

How to Identify

A shrub like plant. It is succulent. It grows 10 m tall. The stems are soft wooded and do not have branches. It can be erect or scrambling. The leaves are leathery and crowded in rings. The flowers are white to purple and are in groups at the top of the plant. The fruit are 1-2 cm across.

How to Grow

Plants can be grown from seeds or cuttings.

Wikipedia

Source ↗

Dracaena fragrans (cornstalk dracaena), is a flowering plant species that is native to tropical Africa, from Sudan south to Mozambique, west to Côte d'Ivoire and southwest to Angola, growing in upland regions at 600–2,250 m (1,970–7,380 ft) altitude.

Notes

Also put in the family Dracaenaceae.

Names & Synonyms

Corn plant, Cornstalk dracaena, Dragon's blood plant, Sukulen darah naga, Ut, Zaw-gyi-taung-hmwe

Aletris fragrans,

References (7)

Anderson, E. F., 1993, Plants and people of the Golden Triangle. Dioscorides Press. p 210
Sukarya, D. G., (Ed.) 2013, 3,500 Plant Species of the Botanic Gardens of Indonesia. LIPI p 1011, 1104
Thaman, R. R., 1987, Plants of Kiribati: A listing and analysis of vernacular names. Atoll Research Bulletin No. 296
Thaman, R. R, 2016, The flora of Tuvalu. Atoll Research Bulletin No. 611. Smithsonian Institute p 34
Vander Velde, N, 2003, The Vascular Plants of Majuro Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands. Atoll research Bulletin. No. 503. Smithsonian Institute. p 16
Whitney, C. W., et al, 2017, Ethnobotany and Agrobiodiversity: Valuation of Plants in the Homegardens of Southwestern Uganda. Ethnobiology Letters 9(2):90–100
World Checklist of Useful Plant Species 2020. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew