Dracaena arborea

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Dracaena arborea
Dracaena arborea - 105.jpg
At the Jardin botanique de Lyon
Dracaena arborea fruits.jpg
Fruit
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Asparagaceae
Subfamily: Nolinoideae
Genus: Dracaena
Species:
D. arborea
Binomial name
Dracaena arborea
Synonyms [1]
List
    • Aletris arboreaWilld.
    • Cordyline arborea(Willd.) Göpp.
    • Dracaena arborea var. baumanniiEngl.
    • Dracaena excelsaTen.
    • Dracaena knerkianaK.Koch
    • Draco arborea(Willd.) Kuntze
    • Pleomele arborea(Willd.) N.E.Br.

Dracaena arborea, the tree dracaena, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae, native to western and west-central wet tropical Africa. [1] It is used as a street tree in a number of African and Brazilian cities. [2]

Contents

Description

A medium sized tree often reaching 20 m (66 ft) in height, sometimes up to 30 m (98 ft), with width up to 30 cm (12 in) in diameter. The stem tend to be yellowish brown when young but greyish when mature. [3] Leaves commonly exceed 40 cm (16 in) in length, sometimes reaching up to 150 cm (59 in), and width often exceeds 4 cm (1.6 in) reaching up to 10 cm (4 in) in width; leaves are narrowly oblanceolate in outline. [3] Inflorescence arranged in pendulous panicles, flowers bunched in groups of 3 to 5 and at the end of branches. [3]

Uses

Draceena arborea is often planted around burial sites to demarcate boundaries in parts of Cameroon and Burundi and is also planted for ornamental uses. [3] In parts of Cameroon, a decoction composed of root extracts mixed with palm wine is sold to people who are told that it will improve male sexual function. [4]

Related Research Articles

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<i>Dracaena</i> (plant) Genus of flowering plants

Dracaena is a genus of about 120 species of trees and succulent shrubs. The formerly accepted genera Pleomele and Sansevieria are now included in Dracaena. In the APG IV classification system, it is placed in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Nolinoideae. It has also formerly been separated into the family Dracaenaceae or placed in the Agavaceae.

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<i>Moringa oleifera</i> Species of flowering tree

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<i>Ancistrocladus</i> Genus of flowering plants

Ancistrocladus is a genus of woody lianas in the monotypic family Ancistrocladaceae. The branches climb by twining other stems or by scrambling with hooked tips. They are found in the tropics of the Old World.

<i>Voacanga africana</i> Species of tree

Voacanga africana is a small tree native to tropical Africa belonging to the family Apocynaceae that grows to 6 m (20 ft) in height and bears leaves that are up to 30 cm (12 in) in length. The yellow or white flowers are succeeded by paired, follicular, dehiscent fruit with a mottled green exocarp and a pulpy, yellow mesocarp surrounding the seeds. The plant contains alkaloids acting as CNS depressants and hypotensives

<i>Acacia elata</i> Species of legume

Acacia elata, the cedar wattle or mountain cedar wattle, is a tree found in eastern Australia.

<i>Dracaena fragrans</i> Species of flowering plant

Dracaena fragrans, 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 600–2,250 m (1,970–7,380 ft) altitude. It is also known as striped dracaena, compact dracaena, and corn plant.

<i>Brugmansia suaveolens</i> Species of plant

Brugmansia suaveolens, Brazil's white angel trumpet, also known as angel's tears and snowy angel's trumpet, is a species of flowering plant in the nightshade family Solanaceae, native to south eastern Brazil, but thought to be extinct in the wild. Like several other species of Brugmansia, it exists as an introduced species in areas outside its native range. It is a tender shrub or small tree with large semi-evergreen leaves and fragrant yellow or white trumpet-shaped flowers.

<i>Dracaena aurea</i> Species of tree

Dracaena aurea, the golden hala pepe, is a species of flowering plant that is endemic to the island of Kauaʻi in Hawaii. It inhabits coastal mesic and mixed mesic forests at elevations of 120–1,070 m (390–3,510 ft). It is a small evergreen tree, usually 4.6–7.6 m (15–25 ft) tall, but sometimes reaches 12 m (39 ft). The gray, straight trunk does not have bark and is 0.3–0.9 m (0.98–2.95 ft) in diameter. The sword-shaped leaves are 20–51 cm (7.9–20.1 in) long and 1–3 cm (0.39–1.18 in) wide.

<i>Mimusops afra</i> Species of tree

Mimusops afra is a species of tree in family Sapotaceae. This tree is found in coastal dune vegetation in Southern Africa from the Eastern Cape, through KwaZulu-Natal to southern Mozambique.

<i>Dracaena aletriformis</i> Species of flowering plant

Dracaena aletriformis is commonly known as the large-leaved dragon tree. These plants are found in forest in the eastern areas of South Africa from Port Elizabeth to northern and eastern Limpopo. They are also found in Eswatini, but are most common in the coastal and dune forests of KwaZulu-Natal.

<i>Dracaena mannii</i> Species of flowering plant

Dracaena mannii Baker or small-leaved dragon tree, is a small to medium-sized tree, though recorded up to 30 m tall with stem to 2 m in diameter in Cameroon and Gabon. It occurs from Senegal to Angola along the African west coast, is widespread in tropical Africa and is found along the African east coast from Kenya to Kosi Bay in northern KwaZulu-Natal. It prefers lowland, submontane and montane forests which are either moist and evergreen, swampy or on coastal dunes. It is also found along forest edges, in clearings and on river banks from sea level to 1,800 metres. It is one of some 120 species currently recognised in its genus, which occur primarily in Africa and southern Asia with a single vagrant species in Central America. The species is named after Gustav Mann (1836–1916), a German botanist, who corresponded with John Gilbert Baker.

<i>Myrianthus arboreus</i> Species of tree

Myrianthus arboreus, the giant yellow mulberry or monkey fruit or Nyankama, in the Akan twi language of Ghana, is a dioecious tropical tree in the genus Myrianthus. It lives in the tropical Central African countries of Central African Republic, Gabon, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Tanzania, and also Ghana in the West African countries. Its chromosome count is 2n = 28.

<i>Gilbertiodendron dewevrei</i> Species of legume

Gilbertiodendron dewevrei is a species of tree in the family Fabaceae, native to tropical rain forests in Central Africa. It is often the dominant tree species of the Guineo-Congolian rainforest. The timber is traded as limbali, and is used for construction, flooring and railway sleepers. It is also used for making boats, furniture, tool handles and joinery and for making charcoal.

<i>Dracaena surculosa</i> Species of flowering plant

Dracaena surculosa, called the gold dust dracaena and spotted dracaena, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae, native to west and west-central tropical Africa, from Guinea to the Republic of the Congo. Its cultivar 'Florida Beauty' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

<i>Dracaena viridiflora</i> Species of plant

Dracaena viridiflora is a shrub or small plant belonging to the family Asparagaceae.

Albizia chevalieri is a shrub or small tree within the family Fabaceae. It is native to West Africa and parts of Central Africa and is found in the drier parts of the savanna.

Albizia coriaria is a deciduous tree native to Tropical Africa belonging to the family Fabaceae, the root and stem bark are widely used in traditional medicine to treat a variety of diseases.

References

  1. 1 2 "Dracaena arborea (Willd.) Link". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 30 October 2022.
  2. Ossola, Alessandro; Hoeppner, Malin J.; Burley, Hugh M.; Gallagher, Rachael V.; Beaumont, Linda J.; Leishman, Michelle R. (2020). "The Global Urban Tree Inventory: A database of the diverse tree flora that inhabits the world's cities". Global Ecology and Biogeography. 29 (11): 1907–1914. Bibcode:2020GloEB..29.1907O. doi:10.1111/geb.13169. S2CID   225429443.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Bos, J.J. (1984). Dracaena in West Africa (PhD thesis). Wageningen University.
  4. Wankeu-Nya, Modeste; Watcho, Pierre; Deeh Defo, Patrick B.; Ngadjui, Esther; Nguelefack, Telesphore B.; Kamtchouing, Pierre; Kamanyi, Albert (2019). "Aqueous and ethanol extracts of Dracaena arborea (Wild) Link (Dracaenaceae) alleviate reproductive complications of diabetes mellitus in rats". Andrologia. 51 (10): e13381. doi: 10.1111/and.13381 . ISSN   0303-4569. PMID   31373720.