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| Cordyline fruticosa | ||||||||||||||
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 Foliage and fruit
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| Cordyline fruticosa (L.) A.Chev. |
Cordyline fruticosa (Ti plant, also known as the good luck plant), is an evergreen flowering plant in the family Liliaceae, formerly treated in the families Agavaceae and Laxmanniaceae. It is a woody plant growing up to 4 m tall, with leaves 30-60 cm (rarely 75 cm) long and 5-10 cm wide at the top of a woody stem. It produces 40-60 cm long panicles of small scented yellowish to red flowers that mature into red berries. It is native to tropical southeastern Asia, Papua New Guinea, Melanesia, northeastern Australia, Indian Oceanand parts of Polynesia. It is not native to Hawaii or New Zealand but exists on those islands as a feral weed introduced by Polynesian settlers. [1]. C. fruticosa is known by a wide variety of common names including cabbage palm, good luck plant, palm lilly and Ti plant, kī (Hawaiʻian), sī (Tongan), and ʻautī.
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Cultivation and uses
The species was spread from its native range throughout Polynesia by farmers. Its starchy rhizomes, which are very sweet when the plant is mature, were eaten as food or as medicine, and its leaves were used to thatch the roofs of houses, and to wrap and store food. The plant or its roots are referred to in most Polynesian languages as tī. Leaves were also used to make items of clothing including skirts worn in dance performances. The Hawaiʻian hula skirt is a dense skirt, an opaque layer of at least 50 green leaves with the bottom (top of the leaves) shaved flat. The Tongan dance dress, the sisi, is an apron of about 20 leaves, worn over a tupenu, and decorated with some yellow or red leaves (see picture at Māʻuluʻulu).[1]
In ancient Hawaiʻi the plant was thought to have great spiritual power; only high priests and chiefs were able to wear leaves around their necks during certain ritual activities. Ti leaves were also used to make lei, and to outline borders between properties (for which its alternative name: terminalis). To this day some Hawaiians plant Ti near their houses to bring good luck. The leaves are also used for lava sledding. A number of leaves are lashed together and people ride down hills on them.
Ti is a popular ornamental plant, with numerous cultivars available, many of them selected for green or reddish or purple foliage.
In Hawaii, Ti rhizomes are fermented and distilled to make okolehao, a liquor.
Synonymy
- Convallaria fruticosa L. (basionym)
- Asparagus terminalis L. nom. illeg.
- Cordyline terminalis (L.) Kunth
- Cordyline terminalis var. ferra Baker
- Dracaena terminalis L. nom. illeg.
- Dracaena terminalis Rich.
- Terminalis fruticosa (L.) Kuntze
References
See also
- Okolehao, a liquor made from Ti roots.
Gallery
 Blooms of ti plant |
 Berries of ti plant |
Notes
External links
- Flora of China: Cordyline fruticosa
- Sir Apenera Short, a former Cook Islands Queen's Representative (1990-2000) dressed in tī leaves. [1]
