Cordyline Australis

"New Zealand Tie-Palm". A long lived 'palm' producing a slowly thickening trunk, carrying at the top a rosette of strap-shaped long leaves. This tree is in the same family, and similar to a "Dragon Tree" or dracaena, but it is hardier in winter, and easier and faster to grow. Older plants grow enormous panicles of deeply scented white flowers in early summer, producing white berries in autumn and winter. Severe winters can kill the leaves but this invariably results in the trunk sprouting several heads.