About Dracaena aurea H.Mann
Dracaena aurea, commonly called golden hala pepe, is a species of flowering plant endemic to the island of Kauaʻi, Hawaii. It grows in coastal mesic and mixed mesic forests at elevations between 120 and 1,070 meters (390 to 3,510 feet). It is a small evergreen tree, typically growing 4.6 to 7.6 meters (15 to 25 feet) tall, and can occasionally reach 12 meters (39 feet) in height. Its straight, gray trunk lacks bark, and has a diameter of 0.3 to 0.9 meters (0.98 to 2.95 feet). Its sword-shaped leaves measure 20 to 51 cm (7.9 to 20.1 in) long and 1 to 3 cm (0.39 to 1.18 in) wide. Horace Mann Jr. first described this species as Dracaena aurea in 1867. In 1914, N. E. Brown reclassified the species into the genus Pleomele, a reclassification that the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families does not accept.
