Corn plant
Also called Dracaena massangeana, Happy plant, Cornstalk dracaena.
| Light | medium light |
|---|---|
| Water | Every 12 days in the growing season, every 21 in winter |
| Pets | Cats toxic, dogs toxic |
Source: ASPCA Animal Poison Control, toxic and non-toxic plants list.
Toxic to cats and dogs if chewed. Listed as toxic to cats, dogs and horses under the name corn plant. The saponins cause vomiting, sometimes with blood, depression, loss of appetite and drooling, and dilated pupils in cats. Keep it where an animal that eats houseplants cannot reach it, and speak to a vet if one does. In South Africa telephone the Poison Information Helpline on 0861 555 777; in the US, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center on (888) 426-4435.
The corn plant grows in tropical Africa, from Sudan down to Mozambique, and is sold as a length of thick cane with a head of arching striped leaves, exactly the way the dragon tree is. It is one of the most widely used plants in offices anywhere, for the same reasons: it tolerates dim light, it wants water perhaps twice a month, and it grows slowly enough that it looks the same for years. It has the family’s one weakness, which is a sensitivity to fluoride and to salts from feeding, and it shows that as dry brown tips on the oldest leaves first. The name comes from the leaves rather than any relationship to maize. A mature plant occasionally flowers, and the scent is powerful, sweet and, for some people in a small room, too much.
Ailments observed
| Brown tips on otherwise healthy leaves | Fluoride and salts in tap water, or dry air. Water with rainwater and flush the pot with plain water every few months. |
|---|---|
| Yellow leaves at the bottom of the plant | Old leaves shed as the cane lengthens, or overwatering. A steady loss from the bottom is how it builds a trunk. Several at once with damp compost is too much water. |
| Long bare stems and pale new leaves | Not enough light. Move it brighter, and cut the cane back in spring at the height you want it to shoot. |
Questions from the margin
Why are my corn plant's leaf tips brown?
Fluoride and salts in tap water. This genus is unusually sensitive to both. Switch to rainwater, flush the pot with plain water every few months, and trim the browned tips to a point with scissors.
Filed underPlants that forgive a beginner, Statement plants
Neighbouring entries
Dragon tree
Dracaena marginataDragon tree care for an office or a hallway, with how often to water, why the tips brown, and how to cut a bare stem so it branches.
Snake plant
Dracaena trifasciataSnake plant care with the long soak-and-dry watering interval it prefers, the light it tolerates, and what a soft or wrinkled leaf is telling you.
Apple
Malus domesticaApples: the bare root planting months for each hemisphere, when the fruit is actually ready to pick, and what the codling moth leaves behind in it.