Guide to Dracaena

This is a species of plant that can be split into several sub-species, the majority of which are native to Africa but can be found in southern Asia and South America as well. The term Dracaena is originally taken from the ancient Greek word ‘Drakaina’ which translates as ‘female dragon’. Despite there being about 40 different varieties of Dracaena plant only around 8 of these are used indoors.

However, because of their versatility, they have become an extremely popular edition within interior landscaping circles and are also proved to be beneficial to the health of office workers in particular. Not only are they considered to be an important edition aesthetically, which is useful as a calming effect in any stressful office or work environment, but they have also been credited with the ability to remove or reduce harmful levels of the potentially toxic gases (or Volatile Organic Compounds – VOCs) that are known to pollute indoor environments. Another advantage that the Dracaena family has, which makes them a popular addition to any interior landscaping design, is their incredible ability to survive in dimly lit offices.

The dracaena family of plants truly deserves its mantle as one of the top ten most popular office plants, not only because of its resilient properties but also because they come in such a different variety of shapes, sizes and colours. The main varieties of Dracaena plant are:

Dracaena Janet Craig
This type of plant has been proved as being excellent for removing trichloroethylene from the air and is one of the species that can survive well under dim lighting conditions. It is a beautiful plant with dark green, lush, foliage.

Dracaena Compacta
Like its counterpart above, this is a very hardy plant that can survive dimly lit environments. The Compacta is a slow growing plant and, as its name suggests, is a very precise and neat plant which is ideal as an addition to modern reception areas where the architecture of a building is very important.

Dracaena Marginata
This is a very colourful plant that has a distinctive red or purple coloured stripe around the edge of its leaves. It is a very popular office plant because of its proven ability to remove formaldehyde from the air and, due to its colouring, is also referred to as the Red-edge Dracaena or Madagascan Dragon Tree.

Dracaena Massangeana
As with many of its counterparts above, this plant is very effective in removing the toxins found indoors. It is however less tolerant to colder climates but makes up for this by having amazingly colourful yellow and green foliage.

Dracaena Golden Coast
As the name suggests for this particular species of Dracaena it has deep, vibrant yellow leaves. It is considered as a good plant to break up any areas of unused office space or as an addition to add colour to planted office displays.

Dracaena Rikki
Very popular as a home, office or roof terrace plant because of its lime green leaves. As with all Dracaena plants, when positioned as part of a display, the colours of the leaves will always compliment and contrast with each other in some way, but also have the ability to stand alone as well.

Other notable editions to the Dracaena species include: Of course, as with any species of office plant nowadays, there are also artificial alternatives on the market which will look and feel exactly like the real thing except they do not come with the obvious maintenance required. Some of the finest examples of artificial Dracaena that fit into this category can be found here;

Dracaena Fragrans
This is a very eye catching plant with striking yellow and green striped leaves that is further enhanced by their delicate nature. Dracaena Reflexa Also beautifully known as ‘The Song of India’, this plant also has yellow and green striped leaves but the leaves are much fuller than the Dracaena Fragrans. This is a truly stunning plant.