Plant Wiki

The open plant encyclopedia

Know any plant.
Grow it well.

Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.

  • 13,000+plants with full pages
  • 365,000+plant species worldwide
  • 220+countries covered

Common in

See all

The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.

What do you want to do?

Popular plants

Browse all plants

See them in 3D

All plants in 3D

Browse plants

Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.

Plant Wiki › Browse plants

Song Of India

Dracaena reflexa

Also called Pleomele

In Singapore: Song of India, Pride of India, Song of Jamaica, Silhouette Plant, Rainbow Tree, Madagascar Dragon Tree (Grown in Singapore)

Song Of India
Photo: No machine-readable author provided. B.navez assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0

Dracaena reflexa, called Song of India, is a slow-growing evergreen shrub or small tree from the Indian Ocean islands, grown mainly as a houseplant for its dark green striped or variegated leaves. It does best in bright, filtered light with moderate watering and tolerates neglect better than most.

Family
Asparagaceae (Asparagus family)
Grows as
Tree
Light
Full sun, Bright indirect, Shade
Water
Water when the top few centimetres of soil feel dry; it tolerates infrequent watering better than overwatering.
Soil
Well-draining peat-based potting mix with some perlite or bark.
Temperature
18–25 °C indoors; protect below 10 °C.
How easy
Easy
Safety
Toxic: Leaves and stems contain saponins, which can cause mouth irritation, vomiting and diarrhoea if chewed or swallowed.. Toxic to cats and dogs (ASPCA).
Native range
NE. Mozambique, W. Indian Ocean
Climate
wet tropical

About

Dracaena reflexa (commonly called song of India or song of Jamaica) 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.

How to grow it

Dracaena reflexa is a popular ornamental plant, both in the landscape and the home. It can be enjoyed as a specimen plant, accent, or pruned to create a border. Several cultivars have been selected, particularly variegated clones with cream and yellow-green margins. It performs well as a houseplant, tolerating infrequent waterings. It prefers bright, filtered light, without direct sun exposure, restricted outdoors to zones 10–11. It has average water needs and should be fertilized bi-weekly when actively growing. Although it can survive in relatively low light levels, the plant may grow spindly if given insufficient light. When grown indoors, temperatures of 18 to 25 °C (64 to 77 °F) should be maintained. It can be propagated via herbaceous stem cuttings.

The cultivar Dracaena reflexa 'Variegata' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Other Dracaena plants

Suji · Tree Dracaena · Lance Dracaena · Dracaena bacularis · Lucky Bamboo · Socotra dragontree · Dracaena concinna · Canary Island Dragon Tree · Fragrant dracaena · Zebra Striped Dragon Tree · Iguanatail · Dracaena pethera

[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Dracaena reflexa by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.

Credits & terms

Identify a plant

Point at a leaf or flower and snap. One plant in frame works best.

Your photo
Starting camera…