Vasilis Teodoridis:
Liliaceae | Dracaena
3. Dracaena angustifolia Roxburgh; Fl. Ind. ed. 1832. 2: 155. 1832.
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Pleomele angustifolia (Roxburgh) N. E. Brown.
Plants shrubby; rhizomatous; 1--3 m tall. Stems simple or few branched; internodes often longer than wide; bark grayish; smooth. Leaves spaced along distal part of stems; subsessile or indistinctly petiolate; petiole to 1 cm; base not completely covering internode; leaf blade nearly sword-shaped to linear-oblanceolate; 20--45 x 1.5--5.5 cm. Inflorescence terminal; branched; 30--50 cm; rachis glabrous. Flowers in clusters of 2 or 3; pedicel 7--8 mm; articulate distally or near apex. Perianth greenish white; 1.9--2.3 cm; tube 7--8 mm; lobes 1.1--1.6 cm. Filaments filiform; anthers 2--3 mm. Style 5--8 x as long as ovary. Berry orange; globose; 0.8--1.2 cm in diam.; 1- or 2-seeded. Fl. Mar--May; fr. Jun--Aug. 2 n = 40.
Forests; thickets. Hainan; S Taiwan (including Lan Yu); S Yunnan [Bhutan; Cambodia; India (including Andaman Islands); Indonesia; Laos; Malaysia; Myanmar; Papua New Guinea; Philippines; Thailand; Vietnam; N Australia].
Dracaena menglaensis G. Z. Ye (in G. Z. Ye et al.; Acta Bot. Yunnan. 14: 30. 1992) was described from two collections from the same locality in S Yunnan (Mengla Xian). It is said to differ from D. angustifolia in its longer; sword-shaped leaves with bases completely covering internodes; perianth lobes tinged reddish purple distally; and 3-ribbed berry with 4 small; apical projections. However; in all other features; it falls within the range of variation of D. angustifolia and is probably best regarded as a robust plant of that species.