John&Jacq~s Garden

Posted by Jacqueline on February 11th, 2010 in Plants database

Dracaena deremensis ‘Lisa’ (Dracaena Lisa, Dracaena Lisa Cane)

An attractive evergreen and shrubby plant with dark green foliage that is popularly grown as an indoor houseplant or outdoors, as a specimen. It can be potted or otherwise.

Interiorscapers just love Dracaena deremensis! With statuesque beauty, great tolerance for low light conditions and resistant to diseases, they make excellent plants for indoor decor.

Outdoors, being robust shrubs that thrive on neglect, landscapers love to use these tropical beauties extensively. Like Cordyline terminalis (Ti Plant), Dracaena deremensis are seen to beautify every nook and corner, so to speak.

Count us in too! We’ve been growing Dracaena ‘Lisa’ for decades! But got to know its correct cultivar name recently when we researched to do this article! Haha…we thought it was Dracaena Janet Craig, its close relative.

It’s such a hardy, dependable and fuss-free plant, making it such a delight to have. Moreover, its ability to rid the air of pollutants does impress us so!

Plant Profile, Culture and Propagation :

• Botanical Name: Dracaena deremensis cv. ‘Lisa’ (synonym: Dracaena fragrans)
• Common Name: Dracaena, Dracaena Cane, Dracaena Lisa Cane, Dracaena Lisa
• Family name: Ruscaceae (formerly Liliaceae, sometimes Agavaceae or Dracaenaceae)
• Its name: Dracaena comes from the Greek ‘drakaina’, meaning female dragon, referring to the resinous red gum that exudes from cut stems, when thickened, is supposed to resemble dragon’s blood in European legends.
• Origin: Dracaena deremensis is a native of Tropical Africa and Asia, while Dracaena Lisa is one of its cultivar.
• Plant type: Tropical ornamental foliage plant
• Features: Dracaena deremensis is one of the approximately 40 species of the genus Dracaena, and has many cultivars and sports. These tropical evergreen and woody perennial plants are widely grown for their ornamental foliage and majestic beauty. Leaves come in all shapes, broadly ovate, strap- or lance-shaped and in varying sizes, broad and short, long and slender.
  Blade colour can be solid green or variegated with white or yellow longitudinal stripes or margins. Growth habit is mostly columnar and upright, ranging between 2.4-3.6 m in height but can be trained to be a small and bushy tree by regular pruning. Some cultivars do produce flowers with sweet fragrance, hence attributed to its synonym, D. fragrans. The very popular and dramatic Dracaena fragrans ‘Massangeana’ (Corn Plant Dracaena) with its central yellow variegation on its green foliage is one such plant.
  
  Dracaena deremensis cv. Lisa, a popular cultivar in our country, Malaysia, has solid dark green foliage. Lance-shaped blades are smooth and simple, slender and arching, about 15-30 cm long.
  It looks very similar to Dracaena ‘Janet Craig’ except the later has much broader leaves that are glossier too.
  They are spirally arranged on unbranched stems that eventually become top-heavy with rosettes as the lower leaves wither. Foliage appears dense as the internodes are very close. Hence, when their rangy stems are hard pruned or trimmed selectively at staggered heights, they’d create an impressive and bushy specimen plant for the garden.
  
  
  Similar to other cultivars, D. deremensis ‘Lisa’ has an erect and upright growth habit with clumping stems or multi-trunked. Generally, it grows to about 2.4m tall with a spread of 1m. Nevertheless, this particular cultivar reacts well to hard pruning and are usually seen in bush or tree form.
  Does it flower? We’re unsure…never seen them bloom before!

• Culture (Care): The robust Dracaena deremensis, a low maintenance plant, is so easy to grow.
  Light: Ideally, bright light indoors and semi-shade or filtered sunlight outdoors. Avoid direct sun that may bleach the foliage. Tolerates low-light to shade, but growth will be a tad slower.
  Moisture: Low water requirements. However, water thoroughly when soil surface looks dry, keeping it evenly moist. At lower temperatures, water sparingly and allow soil surface to dry slightly between watering, otherwise over watering in cool environments can result in leaf loss. It enjoys humid conditions, so mist the plant regularly with tepid water to prevent brown tips and yellow edges caused by dry air.
  Soil: Prefers organic and well-drained soil with good aeration and water-holding capacity. Nonetheless, adaptable to a wide variety of soil types.
  Others: Hardly needs fertilizing, though you can feed monthly with a liquid houseplant fertilizer if you wish. Keep foliage dust free by regularly wiping them with a clean, soft cloth. Remove discoloured leaves to keep tidy by pulling downwards off the stem. Tip burn is a sign of insufficient watering, too low humidity, fluoride toxicity or high soluble salts.
  It tolerates severe pruning well and the severed stem can be cut into shorter 10-cm lengths and used for propagation. If older plants become leggy, cut back stem to within 10 cm from base to rejuvenate the plant and promote bushiness as new growth will develop from the cut section. Or trim back leggy stems at staggered levels for aesthetic results. Repot only when plant becomes root-bound. Dracaenas are generally free from pests, but do check occasionally for aphids, scales and spider mites.
  For subtropical regions: Hardiness: USDA Zone 10B-11. In winter, water sparingly and stop fertilizing, but resume in spring. It likes moderate to warm conditions with minimum temperature of 13 degrees C.

• Propagation: By tip cuttings or stem cuttings, the easier and faster method. It can also be propagated by air layering.

• Usage: Excellent houseplant for homes and greenhouses or as interiorscape plant for commercial offices, hotels and malls. Ideal in containers or above-ground planter, or ground-grown in garden beds/borders as focal point in mixed plantings. Perfect landscape plant anywhere! Use it as an accent or single specimen, or use the bushier cultivars as hedges or screen.
  
  
  Last but not least, use Dracaena deremensis to purify or cleanse the air. It is a well-know fact that Dracaenas are some of the plants used in the NASA Clean Air Study that has shown to help remove benzene, formaldehyde and trichloroethylene. Check the list of air filtering plants at Wikipedia.

Other popular cultivars of Dracaena deremensis, besides ‘Lisa’ are:

• Janet Craig (Dracaena ‘Janet Craig’) – broad and arching, deep green and glossy leaves, and produces strongly fragrant white flowers;
• Janet Craig Compacta – similar to Janet Craig but much smaller;
• Michiko (Michiko Cane) – medium-sized, deep green and glossy leaves, foliage held tightly to its trunks, native of Hawaii;
• Warneckii (Striped Dracaena) – broad but narrower than ‘Janet Craig’ and sharper pointed tips, green leaves with distinctive white stripes;
• Lemon and Lime – lime green leaves with white edgings;

Other External links:
University of Florida, IFAS Extension
Plant Care.com
Plant Care Guru

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Tags: air cleaning plants, foliage plants, green, indoor plants, outdoor plants, perennials, shrubs, trees