Corn Plant
Dracaena fragrans · Mass Cane
It grows on the cool, humid highlands of tropical Africa, from Sudan to Mozambique, where it forms a slow shrub or small tree. The species name fragrans hides its rarest trick: when it finally flowers, it perfumes a whole room.
Family
Asparagaceae
Origin
Tropical Africa
In the wild
Highland shrub
Indoors
1.2–1.8 m
Growth
Slow
With pets
Toxic
Where it's from
Highlands of tropical Africa
Afromontane uplands
From Sudan south to Mozambique, on humid ground roughly 600 to 2,250 m above sea level.
Reaches 15 m in the wild
What sells as a knee-high office tree can grow into a small tree where it is native.
Outdoors: zones 10–11
Frost-free tropics only. Everywhere colder it lives inside.
The name is a secret
Almost no one sees a Corn Plant bloom. When it does, unpredictably and rarely indoors, it throws panicles of small flowers, pink in bud, opening white with a fine red line, and gives off a sweet scent strong enough to fill a room overnight. That perfume is the fragrans in its name.
Blooms rarely indoors
Flowering is uncommon and unpredictable on a potted plant.
Strongly scented
The flowers are intensely fragrant and loved by pollinators in the wild.
Cut it and it branches
A topped cane re-sprouts new heads below the cut. That is how the multi-headed look is made.
How to keep it
LightBright indirect to low
Tolerates a dim corner, but leaves narrow and lose their stripe in deep shade. No harsh sun.
WaterKeep lightly moist
Let the top dry slightly, never bone-dry. Use rainwater or distilled; tap fluoride burns the tips.
HumidityAverage is fineHousehold air suits it. A pebble tray helps in very dry rooms.
Temperature16–24°CWarm rooms. Not frost-hardy; keep it above about 10°C.
SoilWell-draining potting mixAny standard mix that drains freely.
FeedingLightly in summerA light feed in the growing season only.
DifficultyEasyOne of the most neglect-tolerant houseplants. The default office plant for a reason.
With petsToxicSaponins. Vomiting, drooling, depression and dilated pupils in cats if chewed.
PropagationCane cuttingsBoth the leafy top and bare cane segments root in water or moist mix.
RepottingEvery 2–3 yearsIt tolerates being pot-bound. Repot only when truly crowded.
What the data says
What it costs
One of the most mass-produced houseplants on Earth. The opposite of a collector bubble.
$15–50
Large multi-cane trees run $50 to $150. Named cultivars like Lemon Lime and Warneckii stay cheap; there is no rarity premium here.
The clean-air myth
It starred in NASA's 1989 study. Drag to see how many it takes to clean one room.
1 Corn Plant cleans 0.1% of one room's air
It cleared VOCs inside a sealed lab box, which is real. But a real room's ventilation swamps any potted plant; you would need on the order of hundreds to 1,000. Keep it for the looks, not the lungs.
IUCN · Not assessed
In the wild
Abundant on our shelves and widespread in Africa, while its dragon-tree cousins quietly vanish.
The Corn Plant is in no danger, but the conservation tension in its genus is real. Its relatives the dragon trees, D. draco, D. cinnabari and D. ombet, are Red-Listed and threatened. The same family holds the comfortable houseplant and the disappearing wild tree.
When it sulks
Brown leaf tipsThe signature complaint. Fluoride or salt in tap water, dry air, or underwatering. Switch to filtered water.
Yellow, mushy baseOverwatering and root rot.
Lower leaves droppingNormal ageing, but sudden drop means a cold draft or shock.
Pale, narrowing leavesToo little light. The variegation fades in shade.
PestsMealybugs, thrips, spider mites and scale. Treat early.
Varieties & company
The varieties
MassangeanaJanet CraigWarneckiiLemon LimeVictoria
Pairs with · keep apart from
Snake PlantZZ PlantPothosCactiSucculents
A new plant, every week.
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