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Species library › Dracaena › Dracaena forbesii
Other Partly documented

Dracaena forbesii

Waianae Range hala pepe

An endangered shrubby dracaena, formerly Pleomele forbesii, found only in dry and mesic forest of the Waianae Range on Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi. It wants bright light, warm but not hot conditions, a free-draining rocky soil and a drier spell in summer, much like its dry-forest home.

Dracaena forbesii
Photo: David Eickhoff from Pearl City, Hawaii, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day Warm-growingTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Ordinary room humidityBand in Plantistry
Light Bright, filtered lightDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
Expects a seasonal restGrows in the ground

Where it grows wild

Dry forest, lowland dry scrub, and coastal and diverse mesic forest on ridges, gulch heads and slopes of the Waianae Range. Field notes place it among Alectryon, Pouteria, Antidesma, Metrosideros and other natives, often on rocky ridge crests and dry slopes, and in degraded scrub now dominated by introduced species.

Wikipedia gives 240–730 m; herbarium records span about 244–823 m, with most between about 460 and 670 m.

Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi (Waianae Range)

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates
✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it
✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light
✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it
✓ Substrate and airflow
✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY 2.0 licence, unmodified.