Dracaena trifasciata(Prain) Mabb.

viper's bowstring hemp

WFO wfo-0001424422 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Dracaena trifasciata, photographed by Tyler Bishop
fig. a Tyler Bishop, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-15 / obs. 197975152
Dracaena trifasciata, photographed by Greg Tasney
fig. b Greg Tasney, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 191437546
Dracaena trifasciata, photographed by Greg Tasney
fig. c Greg Tasney, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 186691472
Dracaena trifasciata, photographed by 四角銅鑼
fig. d 四角銅鑼, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 177940008
Dracaena trifasciata, photographed by Presha Soogrim
fig. e Presha Soogrim, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 125422769
Dracaena trifasciata, photographed by Presha Soogrim
fig. f Presha Soogrim, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 123976872
Dracaena trifasciata, photographed by Sebastián de Jesús Herrera Buenfil
fig. g Sebastián de Jesús Herrera Buenfil, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 115166845
Dracaena trifasciata, photographed by Zoltán Stekkelpak
fig. h Zoltán Stekkelpak, CC0 1.0 / obs. 108264974

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 8 botanical countries

Regions where Dracaena trifasciata is native: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria, Tanzania CameroonCentral African RepublicCongoDR CongoEquatorial GuineaGabonNigeriaTanzania
Native distribution of Dracaena trifasciata, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Cameroon CMN AFRICA
Central African Republic CAF
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Equatorial Guinea EQG
Gabon GAB
Nigeria NGA
Tanzania TAN

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 7 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Aletris hyacinthoides var. zeylanica L.
  • Sansevieria jacquinii N.E.Br.
  • Sansevieria laurentii De Wild.
  • Sansevieria trifasciata Prain
  • Sansevieria trifasciata var. laurentii (De Wild.) N.E.Br.
  • Sansevieria trifasciata var. trifasciata
  • Sansevieria zeylanica var. laurentii (De Wild.) L.H.Bailey

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.