Cordyline

Cordyline
Cordyline fruticosa
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
Order:	Asparagales
Family:	Laxmanniaceae
Genus:	Cordyline Comm. ex R.Br.
Species
See text

Cordyline is a genus of about 15 species of woody monocotyledonous flowering plants classified in Asparagaceae or alternatively the segregate family Laxmanniaceae, in the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, but placed by other authors in Agavaceae or Lomandraceae. The genus is native to the western Pacific Ocean region, from New Zealand, eastern Australia, southeastern Asia, Polynesia and Hawaii.

The name Cordyline comes from the Greek word for a club (kordyle), referring to enlarged rhizomes^[1].

Selected species

• Cordyline australis (Cabbage Tree)
• Cordyline banksii
• Cordyline fruticosa
• Cordyline haageana
• Cordyline indivisa (Spikes)
• Cordyline obtecta (Norfolk Island and northern New Zealand, syn. C. kaspar, C. baueri)
• Cordyline pumilio
• Cordyline stricta

The following species occur naturally in Australia^[2]

• Cordyline cannifolia
• Cordyline congesta
• Cordyline fruticosa
• Cordyline manners-suttoniae
• Cordyline murchisoniae
• Cordyline petiolaris
• Cordyline rubra
• Cordyline stricta

Cultivation and uses

Members of the group are often grown as ornamental plants, and the cabbage tree has had culinary and other uses.

In Popular Culture

In the Ace Attorney series of games, Charley the Plant is a Cordyline stricta.

References

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