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Corn plant with green stem6/19/2023 ![]() Other English names include striped dracaena (for variegated cultivars), corn plant (for the cultivar 'Massangeana' ), Chinese money tree, and fortune plant. (basionym), Cordyline fragrans (L.) Planch., Pleomele fragrans (L.) Salisb., Sansevieria fragrans (L.) Jacq., Dracaena deremensis Engl., Dracaena smithii Hook.f., and Dracaena ugandensis Baker. The species name refers to the fragrant flowers, while the English name derives from a perceived resemblance of the stem to a corn ( Zea mays) stalk. 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. 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. Signs of new root growth are usually indicated as new leaves emerging. Propagation ĭracaena fragrans can be propagated by cutting segments of old stems, about 10–20 cm (3.9–7.9 in) long, drying them in shade for a day, and then inserting them into moist perlite, sphagnum moss and/or sand, until they root. The cultivars 'Lemon Lime', ‘Massangeana’, and 'Warneckei' bear the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. Some of the most popular cultivars include 'Janet Craig', 'Lemon Lime', and 'Warneckei' ('Warneckii'), which are often sold under the synonym D. ![]() 'Compacta' is more compact and suitable for indoor cultivation, with smaller, flatter and slightly pointed leaves. 'Massangeana' (also commonly called "Mass Cane"), has a bright-yellow central stripe on the foliage. Several cultivars have variegated foliage. In cultivation, in the Neotropics, a few generalist hummingbird species, like the sapphire-spangled emerald ( Chionomesa lactea), visit the flowers. The plant is known as " masale" to the Chagga people of Tanzania, who regard it as holy. ![]() The NASA Clean Air Study indicated that the plant aided removal of indoor pollutants such as formaldehyde, xylene, and toluene. Elsewhere, it is primarily popular as a houseplant 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 suited to frost-free climates and USDA Hardiness zones 10-11. fragrans is commonly grown as a hedge plant. ![]() Cultivation ĭracaena fragrans 'Massangeana' in Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. The fruit is an orange-red berry 1–2 cm (0.39–0.79 in) diameter, containing several seeds. The flowers are produced in panicles 15–160 cm (5.9–63.0 in) long, the individual flowers are 2.5 cm (0.98 in) diameter, with a six-lobed corolla, pink at first, opening white with a fine red or purple central line on each of the 7–12 mm (0.28–0.47 in) lobes they are highly fragrant, and popular with pollinating insects. ![]() The leaves are glossy green, lanceolate, 20–150 cm (7.9–59.1 in) long and 2–12 cm (0.79–4.72 in) wide small leaves are erect to spreading, and larger leaves usually drooping under their weight. 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. Stems may reach up to 30 cm (12 in) diameter on old plants in forest habitats they may become horizontal with erect side branches. Dracaena fragrans is a slow growing shrub, usually multistemmed at the base, mature specimens reaching 15 m (49 ft) or more tall with a narrow crown of usually slender erect branches. ![]()
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