Tricolor Dracaena

Dracaena marginata Lam.

(Common cultivar: ‘Tricolor’)

drah-SCENE-ah  marge-en-AY-tah

Liliaceae

Explanation of name: The generic name comes from Greek for a female dragon. Marginata refers to the leaf margin. ‘Tricolor’ means three-colored.

Natural range: Madagascar

Recognition: A slender Dracaena having long, narrow, upright, ringed stems bearing at the top a tuft of narrow, knife-shaped leaves, these variable and often with colorful marginal striping.

Landscape uses: One of the world’s most-used tropical container plants. May serve as a focal point or specimen plant, but rapid growth leads to rapid change in size and form. Drops leaves with abrupt change in circumstances. Probably best as a container plant. Popular in interiorscaping. Extremely tough and resilient, forgiving, and easy to propagate from stem cuttings.