Species
+

Dracaena fragrans (L.) Ker Gawl.

Dracaena 'Janet Craig Compact', Fragrant Dracaena, Happy plant, corn plant

Climate known 43 photographs Tropical foliage plant
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Dracaena fragrans, is a flowering plant species that is native to 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.

Text from Wikipedia, “Dracaena fragrans”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

Family
Asparagaceae
Described by
(L.) Ker Gawl.
Native to
Benin, Gambia, The, Ghana +23
Wild records
334 in range· 263 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
Feb, mean day; nights 18 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1456mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Apr 176 mm (CHELSA)
Light
29–37DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by the genus Dracaena, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, March to June and September to November at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (2.1 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 1456 mm a year, wettest April at 176 mm, driest January at 54 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 29 to 37 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 13.0 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Aletris fragrans L.; Aloe fragrantissima Jacq.; Cordyline fragrans (L.) Planch.; Dracaena albanensis Sander; Dracaena albanensis Sander ex Mast. and 44 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by the genus Dracaena, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table supplies one figure for this group, a conventional minimum for the cold floor, and no prose.

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, March to June and September to November at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (2.1 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (1057 mm of 1456 mm) falls in March to June and September to November. The temperature curve is flat, 2.1 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere, within 10° of the equator; with no thermal season there there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1456 mm a year, wettest April at 176 mm, driest January at 54 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1456 mm a year at the habitat, 1057 mm of it March to June and September to November. Wettest month April at 176 mm, driest January at 54 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 986 mm to 3573 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 29 to 37 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 29 to 37 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 42).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 13.0 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 13.0 °C, the absolute minimum 9.0 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 31.5 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 16.3 °C in July (across the envelope cells 10.7 °C to 22.4 °C), warmest day 27.6 °C in February (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 13.0 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER); the archetype table's minimum for a tropical foliage plant, 12 °C, is lower and does not raise it.

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence, and the archetype table's group minimum where that is higher. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 61 to 66% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 25 °C in Jul to 28 °C in Feb; mean night from 16 °C in Jul to 18 °C in Mar. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 1456 mm of rain a year, most in Apr. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 238 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 9.0 °C and the 99th-percentile day 31.5 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°31.5° 99th-percentile day (undated)9.0° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 29–37RH 61–66 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 238 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C27 / 23–3228 / 24–3327 / 23–3326 / 22–3225 / 21–3025 / 20–2925 / 20–2825 / 20–2826 / 21–2926 / 22–3026 / 22–3126 / 22–31
Night °C18 / 13–2318 / 13–2418 / 14–2518 / 14–2518 / 13–2417 / 11–2316 / 11–2217 / 11–2217 / 12–2318 / 13–2318 / 13–2318 / 13–24
Rain mm54 / 8–21762 / 26–188139 / 74–233176 / 95–312172 / 45–336114 / 17–43197 / 10–555104 / 14–555155 / 23–525166 / 56–402135 / 40–22382 / 11–206
DLI35 / 32–4037 / 33–4236 / 32–4134 / 29–3731 / 27–3530 / 24–3429 / 23–3431 / 23–3634 / 26–3934 / 27–4034 / 29–3934 / 31–38
RH %61 / 53–6861 / 52–6864 / 56–7065 / 60–7366 / 59–7365 / 56–7465 / 54–7465 / 54–7565 / 55–7465 / 57–7265 / 58–7064 / 56–69

Each figure is the median across the 238 grid cells holding the 333 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1680:3810 (5.975, 10.525). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 9.0 °C, 1st-percentile night 13.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 31.5 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 238 distinct grid cells holding the 333 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1680:3810 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 6.00_10.625, lapse-corrected -102 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1161 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBenin, Gambia, The, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gulf of Guinea Is., Rwanda, Zaïre, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe· introduced: Senegal, Gabon, Chagos Archipelago, Malaya, Society Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Mexico Southeast, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Panama, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is.
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker0.553, 30.813 · in the densest population, 137 records (41% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 334 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 263 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 18 km away. 1268 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 1 in-range record is placed to worse than 10 km and stays on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 334 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Dracaena fragransDracaena fragransDracaena fragransDracaena fragransDracaena fragransDracaena fragransDracaena fragransDracaena fragrans

Photographs: (c) Greg Tasney, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (3); no rights reserved · CC0 (5).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Dracaena fragrans, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Crystals in woody stems
G. Scurfield, A. J. Michell, S. R. SILVA (1973) · Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society
The Vascular System in the Axis of Dracaena fragrans (Agavaceae), 1. Distribution and Development of Primary Strands
Martin H. Zimmermann, P. B. Tomlinson (1969) · Journal of the Arnold Arboretum
PLANTAS INVASORAS ENCONTRADAS NA ÁREA URBANA DE CURITIBA (PR)
Daniela Biondi, José Henrique Pedrosa-Macedo (2008) · FLORESTA
Potted plants can remove the pollutant nitrogen dioxide indoors
Curtis Gubb, Tijana Blanuša, Alistair Griffiths, Christian Pfrang (2022) · Air Quality Atmosphere & Health
Reducing CO2 level in the indoor urban built environment: Analysing indoor plants under different light levels
Nilanka Harshani Weerasinghe, Pasindu Kavishna Silva, Rohantha Jayasinghe, Wasudha Prabodhani Abeyrathna (2023) · Cleaner Engineering and Technology
Effect of Ornamental Foliage Plants on Visual Fatigue Caused by Visual Display Terminal Operation.
Hideki ASAUMI, Hiroshige NISHINA, Hirofumi Nakamura, Yoshinori MASUI (1995) · Shokubutsu Kojo Gakkaishi
VENTRICULAR PHYTOBEZOAR IMPACTION IN THREE MICRONESIAN KINGFISHERS (HALCYON CINNAMOMINA CINNAMOMINA)
Michael J. Kinsel, Michael B. Briggs, Richard F. E. Crang, Robert D. Murnane (2004) · Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine
The nature of reaction wood. IX. Anomalous cases of reaction anatomy
G. Scurfield (1964) · Australian Journal of Botany

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Dracaena 8 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 122 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.