Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Asparagales Link
Family
Asparagaceae Juss.
Genus
Cordyline Comm. ex R.Br.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Cordyline fruticosa (L.) A.Chev. (1919)
Synonymy:
  • ≡ Convallaria fruticosa L., Herb. Amboin. (Linn.) 16 (1754)
  • ≡ Terminalis fruticosa (L.) Kuntze (1891)
  • = Asparagus terminalis L. (1762) nom. illeg.
  • ≡ Cordyline terminalis (L.) Kunth, Abh. Königl. Akad. Wiss. Berlin 1842: 30 (1844) nom. illeg.
  • = Dracaena terminalis Lam. (1786) nom. illeg.
Vernacular Name(s):
Happy plant; Pacific Island cabbage tree; Ti; Tī pore
 Description

Shrub to 3 m high, branching frequently from base or arborescent with unbranched stem. Branches ringed with leaf-scars. Leaves 30–90 × 3–15 cm, lanceolate, oblanceolate or oblong, thin, coriaceous, glabrous, shining, narrowed above clasping base to deeply channelled petiole ± 1 cm wide, c. ¼ leaf-length; midrib indistinct abaxially, more evident adaxially, veins fine, not prominent, opaque in fresh or dry material, transverse veinlets opaque in fresh leaves but raised above surface and dark in dried material. Panicle c. 30 cm long, little branched, lax; ultimate racemes to 15 cm long, ± 2 cm diam. with flowers on, axes visible between flowers. Flowers white or lilac-tinged, to 8 mm long; segments recurved, outer < inner. Berries red, rarely formed.

[From: Healy and Edgar (1980) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 3 as Cordyline terminalis]

 Biostatus
Exotic
 Bibliography
Kunth, K.S. 1844: Über die natürliche Gruppe der Liliaceen im weitesten Sinne des Worts. Abhandlungen der Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin 1842: 1–56.
Linnaeus, C. 1754: Herbarium Amboinenese . Hojer, Uppsala.
Parsons, M.J.; Douglass, P.; Macmillan, B.H. 1998: Current Names List for wild Gymnosperms, Dicotyledons and Monocotyledons (except Grasses) of New Zealand as used in Herbarium CHR. Version 1, to 31 Dec 1995. Manaaki Whenua Press, Lincoln, Canterbury, New Zealand.
Steele, R.; Lowe, M. 2002–2006: Index. Subtropicals Index: 1–12.
Wilcox, M.; Bradshaw, C.; Cameron, E. 2004: Woody plants of the Auckland Domain. Auckland Botanical Society Journal 59(1): 44–56.