A tremendous thanks to all of you. Turns out the exact name is Dracaena reflexa or Song of India. Thanks again!
I don't agree with D reflexa Song of India, all mine and ones that I have seen are yellow, not white. The growth pattern on reflexa is different and more compact.Maybe D sanderiana, but the white is throwing me off on that one?? Ed
A common mistake. Stems are sold in Asian shops and in florists' as "Lucky Bamboo". But it is not a bamboo.
it might be that it's not getting enough light and is etoliated. don't know - i've not grown that one.
Yeah, I actually agree with Ed too the more I look at it. Especially when coupled with the description of the Dracaena sanderiana at plantcare.com. As the story so often goes, two friends were moving and they couldn't bring the plant with them, so my girlfriend and I adopted it. When we asked our friends what it was, they said, "some kind of palm." However, after going through every single page on palmguide.org, I became pretty certain it wasn't. As the story also so often goes, our friends hadn't really taken the best care of the plant, so my girlfriend and I have taken it upon ourselves to nurse it back to health. However, not knowing precisely what kind of plant it is has made doing so more than a little precarious. Sorry to jump the gun on the song of india name (got a little overly excited in what I thought was a eureka moment), and thanks so much again to everyone for all your help.
dracs are VERY easy to care for! a well-draining soil that will stay a bit moist, a container with drainage holes, water thoroughly and let the soil dry down an inch or so before doing another thorough watering and bright, indirect light and it'll do just fine! they're also very easy to propgate - just top it off at some point and plant the top piece and it'll root.
