Jepson eFlora: Taxon page
Vascular Plants of California
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Cordyline
CABBAGE TREE

Higher Taxonomy
Family: LaxmanniaceaeView Description 

Common Name: WIRE-LILY FAMILY
Habit: Perennial herb, +- palm- or tree-like, trunks [0]1--several. Stem: [0] tall, slender, woody [or not], with obvious leaf scars. Leaf: [basal] cauline, alternate, generally crowded near stem tip, sessile or +- narrowed basally, +- clasping. Inflorescence: terminal [axillary], panicles [(racemes), umbels, large cymes, or flowers 1], sessile or +- so. Flower: perianth parts 6, in 2 petal-like whorls, fused at base; stamens 6, equal [unequal], anthers attached at middle [base]; ovary superior, 3-chambered, style 1, stigma minutely 3-lobed. Fruit: berry [loculicidal or indehiscent capsule].
Genera In Family: 14--15 genera, 178 species: Australia, Asia, South America. Etymology: (Laxmannia, the type genus, possibly named for Erik Laxman, 18th century Finnish clergyman, biologist, and traveler in Siberia)
eFlora Treatment Author: Dale W. McNeal
Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.
Cordyline
Stem: trunks increasing in diam in age. Leaf: long-lived, crowded in tufts of 200+ distally, 30--100 cm, long-linear to narrow-elliptic, narrowed just above base but not petioled. Inflorescence: terminal (but soon made lateral by dominance of axillary shoot), erect or drooping; bracts 3, > panicle, flowers +- sessile, subtended by 3 scale-like bractlets. Flower: small, radial, +- white, perianth tube short; stamens 6, fused to perianth base; ovules several to many. Fruit: dry in age. Seed: black.
Species In Genus: +- 15 species: Australasia to New Zealand. Etymology: (Greek: club, from thickened fleshy roots)
Jepson eFlora Author: Dale W. McNeal
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)

Previous taxon: Laxmanniaceae
Next taxon: Cordyline australis

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Citation for this treatment: Dale W. McNeal 2012, Cordyline, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=8938, accessed on April 23, 2024.

Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 23, 2024.