Dracaena arborea

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Dracaena arborea
At the Jardin botanique de Lyon
Fruit
Scientific classification Edit this classification
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 arborea Willd.
    • Cordyline arborea (Willd.) Göpp.
    • Dracaena arborea var. baumannii Engl.
    • Dracaena excelsa Ten.
    • Dracaena knerkiana K.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]

Description[edit]

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[edit]

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] A decoction composed of root extracts of the species mixed with palm wine is used to improve male sexual function in parts of Cameroon.[4]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "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. doi:10.1111/geb.13169. S2CID 225429443.
  3. ^ a b c d 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). doi:10.1111/and.13381. ISSN 0303-4569.