Madagaskar Dragon Tree

The Madagaskar Dragon Tree (Dracaena reflexa reflexa) is also called song of India or pleomele. This species of Dracaena is a tropical tree native to Madagascar, Mauritius, and some other nearby islands in the Indian Ocean.

While it may reach a height of 4 to 6 metres in ideal, protected locations, the Madagascar Dragon Tree is usually much smaller, especially when grown as a houseplant. It is slow-growing and upright in habit, tending to an oval shape with an open crown. The lanceolate leaves are simple, spirally arranged, 5–20 cm long and 1.5–5 cm broad at the base, with a parallel venation and entire margin; they grow in tight whorls and are a uniform dark green.

The flowers are small, clustered, and usually white, appearing in mid-winter. Neither the flowers nor the fruit are especially distinctive.

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, reflexa, is Latin and means 'bent back'.

The Madagascar Dragon Tree is widely grown as an ornamental plant and houseplant, valued for its richly coloured, evergreen leaves, and thick, irregular stems. This popularity as an ornamental is also the result of the existence of several subspecies of the Madagaskar Dragon Tree (Dracaena reflexa angustifolia, Dracaena reflexa bakeri, Dracaena reflexa brevituba, Dracaena reflexa condensata, Dracaena reflexa lanceolata, Dracaena reflexa linearifolia, Dracaena reflexa nervosa, Dracaena reflexa occidentalis, Dracaena reflexa parvifolia, Dracaena reflexa salicifolia, Dracaena reflexa subcapitata, and Dracaena reflexa subelliptica).

Dracaena reflexa angustifolia, for instance, differs in having a magenta tint to its flowers, a shrubby habit and olive green leaves.