Dracaena aletriformis is commonly known as the Large-leaved Dragon Tree. These plants are found in forest in the eastern areas of South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 from Port Elizabeth to northern and eastern Gauteng

Gauteng

Gauteng is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. It was formed from part of the old Transvaal Province after South Africa's first all-race elections on 27 April 1994...

. They are also found in Swaziland

Swaziland

Swaziland, officially the Kingdom of Swaziland , and sometimes called Ngwane or Swatini, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique...

, but are most common in the coastal

KwaZulu-Natal Coastal Lowland Forest

KwaZulu-Natal Coastal Lowland Forest is a subtropical forest type that was once found almost continuously along the low-lying coastal areas of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa...

 and dune forests

KwaZulu-Natal Dune Forest

KwaZulu-Natal Dune Forest is a subtropical forest type that was once found almost continuously along the coastal dunes of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. This vegetation type develops in sheltered areas behind the littoral zone, where with some protection from the salt wind it may develop with...

 of KwaZulu-Natal

KwaZulu-Natal

KwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa. Prior to 1994, the territory now known as KwaZulu-Natal was made up of the province of Natal and the homeland of KwaZulu....

.

Taxonomy

This plant has 8 synonyms. In the APG III classification system

APG III system

The APG III system of flowering plant classification is the third version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy...

, the genus Dracaena

Dracaena

Dracaena can mean:*Drakaina, a Greek mythological entity*Dracaena , a genus of plants*Cordyline australis, a plant commonly known as the Dracaena palm...

is placed in the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Asparagaceae

Asparagaceae

Asparagaceae is the botanical name of a family of flowering plants, placed in the order Asparagales of the monocots.In earlier classification systems, the species involved were often treated as belonging to the family Liliaceae...

, subfamily Nolinoideae (formerly the family Ruscaceae).) It has also been placed in the Agavaceae (now the subfamily Agavoideae) and the Dracaenaceae. Like many lilioid monocot

Lilioid monocot

Lilioid monocots or lilioids is an informal name used for a grade of five monocot orders in which the majority of species have flowers with relatively large, coloured tepals, broadly similar to those of lilies...

s, it was formerly placed in the family Liliaceae

Liliaceae

The Liliaceae, or the lily family, is a family of monocotyledons in the order Liliales. Plants in this family have linear leaves, mostly with parallel veins but with several having net venation , and flower arranged in threes. Several have bulbs, while others have rhizomes...

 (lily family).

Description

Single stemmed or branched (usually at the base). The leaves are large and strap-shaped in rosettes at the tips of the stem/s. The leaves are leathery, shiny, and dark green, with whitish margins. These plants may grow up to 4 m tall. The flowers are produced on a much branched flowering head. The flowers are silvery-white and described as sweetly or strongly scented. The two-lobed berry-like fruit ripen to a reddish-orange colour.

Ecological Significance

The flowers open from late afternoon to early morning and attract night-active pollinator moths. Birds eat the fruit; helping to remove the orange pulp which contains a growth inhibitor that otherwise slows germination of the seeds. Snails and the larvae of the Bush Night Fighter butterfly, Artitropa erinnys

Artitropa erinnys

The Bush Night-fighter is a butterfly of the Hesperiidae family. It is found from the East Cape to KwaZulu-Natal, Transvaal, Zimbabwe and eastern Africa.The wingspan is 53–57 mm for males and 59–63 mm for females...

, feed on the leaves. Birds and mice nest among the leaves of these plants.

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