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Thursday, February 28, 2013

Auspicious Plant with Underestimated Fragrance

Talk of things auspicious, this plant is one of them, so one of its common name is Chinese money tree. Another common name is fortune plant and corn plant because it resembles corn leaves. It has a reputation of being auspicious and the owner being fortunate when this flowers, maybe because it takes time before it does. A lot of bees and insects love nectaring in the so many flowers per panicle, in a long spike full of many panicles. Green fruits become red-orange when ripe and I guess that makes it more auspicious for the Chinese and those who believe in this superstition. It is also famous as indoor plants because NASA study reported its ability to trap poisonous gases like formaldehyde, xylene and toluene.

We have a long hedge of these to protect soil erosion and a barrier between the road and the citrus trees. They are already tall and mature producing lots of blooms. If that is of any significance, i hope prosperity and happiness for the owners are some of them. However, the name Dracaena fragrans might be an under estimation of its fragrance. A long spike near the house will be bothersome to the residents, as its fragrance borders on overpowering odor, almost awful. Can you imagine the odor of many spikes simultaneously blooming? That happens in our property, so you can't blame my mother and sister for cutting many of the plants, preventing them to produce lots of flowers.

I hope cutting many of them will not prevent the prosperity and happiness due us!

I love the reddish-purple stripes along the lobes of each flower. Lengths of each lobes differ producing lovely protrusions. 

Sometimes, the spike produce panicles on both sides

...or sometimes a panicle is borne from a long branchlet, but with this light it is so spectacular.

The spiky panicles have different flower maturity, so they open at different staggered times.



This is the hedge thickly planted on a slope to prevent soil erosion. Many plants are already cut to about a meter high. Some plants are already flowering as in the left lower portion.

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17 comments:

  1. I also like the stripes on the flower, nice pictures you show.
    Have a nice day :-)

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  2. i didn't know fortune plant has a flower--this is the first time i've seen one. i like your macro shots, beautiful details.

    here's to your great fortune!:p

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    1. Thanks Luna i am fully accepting your gift of fortune! It is also called Chinese money tree. Ours have been blooming for the past few years, and our florida beauty flowering yearly too, they are both auspicious to the Chinese. I asked my Malaysian-Chinese friends why the prosperity and happiness are not yet dropping easily by!

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  3. I've never seen Dracaena frgrans planted as a hedge before. I can just imagine the perfume that comes from it when most are blooming. I adore the perfume of the Dracaena fragrans flower. It certainly fills a large space with its heady fragrance.

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    1. Oh Bernie, you are the only person i know who wants its fragrance. For us it is foul odor, maybe because we have a lot, as i described in the text.

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  4. Those flowers are so beautiful in your photos. It would be nice to smell them right now too.

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  5. stunning macro pics! thanx for sharing with us :)

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  6. Hi Andrea, Great photos. Is the fragrence bad? or just too strong?

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    1. Andrea thanks, if the flowers are more than one the smell gets suffocating, fragrance is almost foul or too strong bordering on awful. One flower should be about 10m away for a diluted scent to be appreciated.

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  7. These are fantastic! I love the macros of the stripes.

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  8. Wow! Great photos! Very Beautiful!

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  9. I really love the blooms and the history and stories of this money plant...

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  10. You've left me wondering what that flower smells like. Maybe the person who named it had a cold at the time.

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    1. Your comment made me laugh. I truly believe you, i just don't want to say how i will describe it. When many plants are flowering, the smell is "disgusting", but i guess it also goes with the nose of the beholder! haha

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  11. love your photos! Awesome Post this week!!!!!!
    Always a delight to visit you! I am aching for spring to finally come so I can see something other than white snow in my gardens!
    Thanks for linking in again this week..I am sharing it to my tootsie time facebook page too!
    hugs from Alberta Canada!

    (¯`v´¯)
    `*.¸.*´Glenda/Tootsie
    ¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)
    (¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•.

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