Species
+

Dracaena reflexa Lam.

Hasini, Moutsanga, Pleomele, Song of India

Climate known 50 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 reflexa is a tree native to Mozambique, Madagascar, Mauritius, and other nearby islands of the Indian Ocean. It is widely grown as an ornamental plant and houseplant, valued for its richly coloured, evergreen leaves, and thick, irregular stems.

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

Family
Asparagaceae
Described by
Lam.
Native to
Mozambique, Aldabra, Chagos Archipelago +6
Wild records
637 in range· 539 open

At a glance

Warmest month
27°C
Jan, mean day; nights 22 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
2167mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Feb 388 mm (CHELSA)
Light
24–43DLI
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 summer growing season, May to October in the northern hemisphere (November to April at the habitat, southern). Habitat rain 2167 mm a year, wettest February at 388 mm, driest September at 70 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 43 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 13.4 °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 Cordyline reflexa (Lam.) Endl.; Dracaena reflexa subsp. typica; Dracaena reflexa var. typica Baker; Draco reflexa (Lam.) Kuntze; Lomatophyllum reflexum (Lam.) Bojer and 3 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 summer growing season, May to October in the northern hemisphere (November to April at the habitat, southern).

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

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (1647 mm of 2167 mm) falls in November to April, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 24.1 °C against a yearly mean of 22.3 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: May to October.

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 2167 mm a year, wettest February at 388 mm, driest September at 70 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

2167 mm a year at the habitat, 1647 mm of it November to April. Wettest month February at 388 mm, driest September at 70 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1224 mm to 3643 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern 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: 24 to 43 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 43 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 21, the highest 90th-percentile month 46).

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 13.4 °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 13.4 °C, the absolute minimum 9.8 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 39.5 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 16.1 °C in August (across the envelope cells 9.8 °C to 20.5 °C), warmest day 27.3 °C in January (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 13.4 °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: 63 to 68% 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 22 °C in Jul to 27 °C in Jan; mean night from 16 °C in Aug to 22 °C in Feb. The cold quarter, Jul to Sep, is the three months around the coldest night. 2167 mm of rain a year, most in Feb. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 379 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 9.8 °C and the 99th-percentile day 39.5 °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°40°45°39.5° 99th-percentile day (undated)9.8° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 24–43RH 63–68 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 379 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 / 23–2927 / 23–2927 / 23–2926 / 22–2924 / 20–2823 / 18–2722 / 17–2622 / 18–2723 / 20–2825 / 21–2926 / 23–3027 / 23–30
Night °C22 / 16–2522 / 16–2522 / 16–2521 / 15–2419 / 13–2317 / 11–2216 / 10–2116 / 10–2117 / 11–2118 / 12–2220 / 14–2321 / 15–24
Rain mm373 / 245–504388 / 230–581298 / 165–492175 / 63–371115 / 22–30079 / 8–25593 / 8–27077 / 10–20870 / 11–15086 / 30–160132 / 58–219281 / 169–372
DLI37 / 33–4436 / 31–4135 / 31–3831 / 27–3627 / 23–3324 / 21–3125 / 21–3230 / 25–3636 / 31–4141 / 35–4443 / 38–4640 / 36–45
RH %68 / 64–7268 / 64–7268 / 64–7266 / 62–7265 / 60–7164 / 59–7063 / 58–7063 / 58–6963 / 57–6863 / 58–6864 / 60–6966 / 62–70

Each figure is the median across the 379 grid cells holding the 629 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 2173:4494 (-18.675, 44.725). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 9.8 °C, 1st-percentile night 13.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 39.5 °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 379 distinct grid cells holding the 629 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2173:4494 (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 -18.50_45.000, lapse-corrected -197 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 187 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.
NativeMozambique, Aldabra, Chagos Archipelago, Comoros, Mauritius, Madagascar, Réunion, Rodrigues, Seychelles· introduced: Central African Republic, Solomon Is., Belize
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-13.264, 49.441 · in the densest population, 520 records (82% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 637 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 539 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 20 km away. 188 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 8 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay 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 637 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Dracaena reflexaDracaena reflexaDracaena reflexaDracaena reflexaDracaena reflexaDracaena reflexaDracaena reflexaDracaena reflexa

Photographs: (c) Ben, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); no rights reserved · CC0 (2); (c) Josiah Londerée, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Jacek Pietruszewski, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Diogo Luiz, some rights reserved (CC BY).

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 reflexa, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Fungal Planet description sheets: 400–468
P.W. Crous, M.J. Wingfield, David M. Richardson, J.J. Leroux (2016) · Persoonia - Molecular Phylogeny and Evolution of Fungi
Characterization of new cellulosic fiber: Dracaena reflexa as a reinforcement for polymer composite structures
P. Manimaran, S. P. Saravanan, Sanjay Mavinkere Rangappa, Suchart Siengchin (2019) · Journal of Materials Research and Technology
Phytochemical Profiling, In Vitro Biological Activities, and In Silico Molecular Docking Studies of Dracaena reflexa
Bilal Ahmad Ghalloo, Kashif-ur-Rehman Khan, Saeed Ahmad, Hanan Y. Aati (2022) · Molecules
Phytochemical Screening, proximate analysis and antioxidant activity of Dracaena reflexa lam. leaves
Abha Shukla, Swati Vats, RK Shukla (2015) · Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Diesel Fuel Degradation from Contaminated Soil by Dracaena reflexa Using Organic Waste Supplementation
Arezoo Dadrasnia, P. Agamuthu (2013) · Journal of the Japan Petroleum Institute
Functional morphology, biomechanics and biomimetic potential of stem–branch connections inDracaena reflexaandFreycinetia insignis
Tom Masselter, Sandra Eckert, Thomas Speck (2011) · Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology
Organic wastes to enhance phyto-treatment of diesel-contaminated soil
Arezoo Dadrasnia, P Agamuthu (2013) · Waste Management & Research The Journal for a Sustainable Circular Economy
Resolving Form–Structure–Function Relationships in Plants with MRI for Biomimetic Transfer
Linnéa Hesse, Jochen Leupold, Simon Poppinga, Markus Wick (2019) · Integrative and Comparative Biology
Chrysomphalus aonidum (Linnaeus, 1758), a new alien pest of ornamental plants in the Czech Republic (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Diaspididae)
Iva Hlavjenková, Hana Šefrová (2013) · Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis

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 49 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.