I have a Dracaena surculosa punctulata "Sierra Leone" & can find very little info re this delightful plant. It is now about 18-19 yrs old & for nearly 10 yrs was badly neglected (by me, I'm sad to say),but after some recent TLC, it has rejuvenated itself & is as new & looking great!! It has not flowered for a while, but after all it has been through, I guess that is to be expected!! Can anyone enlighten me about this plant? Any info would be much appreciated. Thanks.
G'day Joy...how's things in Evans Head?? Is it possible for you to post a picture of your plant because when I looked it up on the net I was shown at least 2 vastly different plants?? Ed
Thanks Ed, it's lovely & sunny here today in Evans Head, much like Brissie, I would imagine. No, I don't have a photo of my plant, sorry, & as I am such a newcomer to this computer technology I doubt I could post it if I did!! It has glossy green "tongue" shaped leaves with yellowy, lime green spots, which grow in fan-shaped clusters @ the end of very spindly branches, also opposing & singly along them. The stems are slender & have a paper-like substance, growing from segments, wrapped around them. They flower intermittently. The buds take a long time to mature, but the flowers themselves only last for a few hours @ night & have a beautiful perfume, followed, eventually, by dark green berries which become orange with maturity. The flowers are white, trumpet-shaped, fragile in appearance & form a cluster @ the end of a thin stem. The plant thrives with pruning & can handle severe neglect, as I discovered, to my shame. I hope this can help find out something of its background. Many thanks.
Joy, try this site (just click on the green) www.glasshouse.com/trop-de.html just to confirm the picture is the same as yours and then you might want to google the full name but leave off the sierra leone...good luck. I have a lot of Dracaenas but not that one, if you want to do some swaps just let me know and I will send you a pm (private message) with my details Ed
Hi Ed,yes that photo on the Glasshouseworks site does appear to be similar to my plant but it is short (very) on background re the plant. I had Googled it but there were only 11 postings in "English" & most of those were in a foreign language!!!!!! There does not seem to be much in the way of information about it. I originally purchased it from a nursery in Ballina (in 1990), I'm not sure if they are still in business!! Wouldn't know how to even propagate my specimen , sorry about that. Many thanks for your help.
Have found out my Dracaena surculosa punctulata has some similarities to Gold Dust Dracaena &/or Spotted Dracaena, though it is different in a number of areas, i.e. the colour of the leaf spots, length of time the flowers last & the size of the berries, etc. From the USDA/GRIN site I found it is native to Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria & Sierra Leone, which is possibly why mine was given the appellation "Sierra Leone". I like to know to where a plant is indigenous, gives me some idea on how to look after them. During the years of neglect of this poor plant, it was sited next to a kentia palm & a maidenhair fern on a covered verandah, probably thought it was back in tropics of Africa!!!! Also found on another thread here that it is also sometimes called godseffiana, though again, it does look different to photos of these. Many thanks Ed for your info & @ least my search lead me to this fine site. Joy
Hi Joy, I've been looking for a Dracaena surculosa plant here in Sydney and can't seem to find any! I believe they're also known as the "philippino bamboo" or Gold Dust Dracaena. Very hardy and easy to take care of, I used to have so many of them back home in Malaysia (and I really love the small flowers). Do you know where I could find one? I miss having one so much, and have been looking all over but haven't found any! Suggestions on where I could buy one from? thanks!
Hi, Mayliu. I bought mine from a plant nursery at Ballina, up here in the Northern Rivers of NSW. That was way back in 1990, do not know if they are still in business, of course. Have not seen it (the plant) around when I have been plant shopping lately. Mine is different from the Gold Dust dracaena in some ways, the spots on the leaves are lime green, fading to yellow as they age, as opposed to the creamy-white spots of the GD & some surculosas have flowers that last, whereas my plant's flowers only come out at night & are dead by morning. Blink & you've missed them!!! I agree with you, the fragrance is heavenly. As I said in my earlier post, it was horribly neglected for many years, but after some drastic pruning, re-potting & much TLC, it is now (along with our Wollemi pine) our pride & joy. It truly is a deightful plant. Sorry, I could not be of any help to you, but keep hunting, you may be lucky.
