Leaves spirally arranged, often congested terminally in pseudo-whorls, strap- or sword-shaped, smooth, entire, acute with clasping bases
Infloresences terminal panicles of simple or branched racemes; peduncle often with reduced leaves in transition to tiny scarious floral bracts
Flowers whitish, fragrant, nocturnal; pedicel consisting of a basal part turning into a persistent peg, and a stalk-like obconical receptacle persistent in fruit
Perianth tubular with 6 recurving lobes
Stamens arising in throat, opposite and equal to lobes; filaments inflated
Fruit a globose or lobed, orange-scarlet berry
Seeds 1-3, large, rounded, bony
x = 10 (7, 8, 19) (aneuploids, high polyploidy)
Nomenclature:
Dracaena L.
Linnaeus: 246 (1767)
Baker: 274 (1896)
Bos: 1 (1992)
Venter: 62 (1996)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Species ± 60 in warmer regions of the world, notably Africa and SE Asia
Southern Africa: Species 3, Northern Province, Mpumalanga, Swaziland, KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape
References:
BAKER, J.G. 1896. Dracaena. Flora capensis 6
BOS, J.J. 1992. Dracaena. Flora of southern Africa 5, 3
LINNAEUS, C. 1767. Systema naturae, edn 12, 2. Laurentius Salvius, Stockholm
VENTER, F. 1996. The genus Dracaena L. in South Africa. Aloe 33
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Welcome to Biodiversity Advisor 2.0!
Biodiversity Advisor, developed by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and its Data Partners, is a system that will provide integrated biodiversity information to a wide range of users who will have access to geospatial data, plant and animal species distribution data, ecosystem-level data, literature, images and metadata.
The integrated information comes from our much-loved Botanical Database of Southern Africa (BODATSA) also known as Plants of Southern Africa (POSA), Zoological Database of Southern Africa (ZODATSA), Biodiversity Geographic Information System (BGIS), SANBI's institutional repository (Opus) and others.
The system is still under development, so you may find a few bugs/issues. If you do, please report it via the error reporting button available in various sections of the website or provide us with any useful feedback you may have via the ‘Give us feedback’ option available in the sidebar menu. You can create a free account for yourself by clicking on the user profile icon which will take you through to the login page. Here you can choose the ‘Create an account’ option or simply fill in your details if you have an account already. Having an account on Biodiversity Advisor will provide users with free access to biodiversity resources.
In future, Team SANBI will be able to log in using their day-to-day login details, BGIS users will be able to use their existing accounts and details, and general users will be able to log in using their LinkedIn profile, but for now you will need to create an account.
