Dracaena sanderiana

The "lucky bamboo" is often sold in the aquarium plant trade, but is not suitable as a submersed plant. Under water it can stay green for quite a long time, but sooner or later it dies and then rots.

With its slender, knotty, leafless stem and narrowly lanceolate leaves, this plant is reminiscent of bamboo, but it belongs to the dragon trees (genus Dracaena) and is not closely related to bamboo species, which belong to the true grasses (family Poaceae).

The name Dracaena sanderiana is also given as a synonym of Dracaena braunii Engl. (e.g. on www.theplanlist.org, 03/2013). This dragon tree species originates from tropical Africa and has become widespread as a houseplant and tropical garden ornamental. Numerous cultivars exist. Variegated cultivars with a white leaf margin are frequently in the trade. The plant is used in many ways in floristry - as cut greenery, with twisted or braided stems, etc.

D. sanderiana can be cultivated as a houseplant and in tropical terrariums, is robust and has low light requirements. It grows well in normal potting soil, which should not be waterlogged. Once it reaches a certain length, the thin stem lies down if it is not supported. New shoots form continuously at the base of the plant. For propagation, the stem can be cut into pieces each with several nodes and laid flat in warm soil. Side shoots then develop from "dormant buds" at the stem nodes.

Dracaena sanderiana and other dragon tree species resemble cordylines or "fire palms" (Cordyline fruticosa), which are often likewise called "Dracaena". But in true Dracaena species all longitudinal leaf veins run parallel to the leaf midrib, whereas in Cordyline they branch off from the midrib in a pinnate manner.