T.E.R:R.A.I.N - Taranaki Educational Resource: Research, Analysis and Information Network


Mountain Cabbage Tree (Cordyline indivisa)

Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Laxmanniaceae
Genus: Cordyline
Species: C. indivisa
Binomial name: Cordyline indivisa
Common names: Mountain Cabbage tree, Toi

Cordyline indivisa is very distinctive. The species can be distinguished from all other Cordyline species by its very broad blue-grey leaves, and its smaller, tightly compacted inflorescence which is produced from beneath the foliage. It forms a stout tree up to 8 m tall, with a trunk from 40 to 80 cm in diameter. The stem is usually unbranched, or has very few branches. The leaves are 1 to 2 metres long, and from 10 to 30 cm wide. The foliage, which droops with age, is blue-green and shaped like a broad sword, with a broad and conspicuous midrib which is often tinged red, orange red or golden. The inflorescence is a panicle that arises from the base of the growing points underneath the leaves.
It is found In open places in the forest where there is plenty of light, including road and track margins between 450 and 1350 metres above sea level on Mt Taranaki/Egmont.

These three Cordyline indivisa can are on the side of the road to the Stratford Mountain house.