Cordyline rubra

{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}

{{Use Australian English|date=August 2024}}

{{Speciesbox

|genus = Cordyline

|species = rubra

|image = Cordyline rubra Coffs.jpg

|authority = Otto & A.Dietr.

|synonyms=

• Terminalis rubra (Otto & A.Dietr.) Kuntze

}}

Cordyline rubra, known as the palm lily, is an evergreen Australian plant. Growing as a shrub to around 4 metres (13 ft) tall, it is found in warm rainforest and moist eucalyptus forest.{{cite web|title=Cordyline rubra|work=Australian Plants Online|url=http://asgap.org.au/APOL26/jun02-3.html|access-date=2010-06-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205212444/http://asgap.org.au/APOL26/jun02-3.html|archive-date=2010-12-05|url-status=dead}} The range of natural distribution is from Lismore to near Bundaberg, Queensland.

It was first described by the German botanists Christoph Friedrich Otto and Albert Gottfried Dietrich in 1848.{{APNI | name =Cordyline rubra Otto & A.Dietr. | id = 25429}} The Latin species name rubra means "red".{{cite book |vauthors=Elliot RW, Jones DL, Blake T |title=Encyclopaedia of Australian Plants Suitable for Cultivation:Volume 3 - Ce-Er|year=1984|page=88 |publisher=Lothian Press |location=Port Melbourne |isbn=0-85091-167-2}}

Cordyline rubra is mainly identified by the leaf stems, which grow from 5 to 20 cm (2–8 in) long. They are flat or somewhat concave in shape. The leaves 15 to 50 cm (6–20 in) long, and 3 to 5.5 cm (1.4–2.2 in) wide,{{cite web |title=Cordyline rubra|work= PlantNET – NSW Flora Online|url=http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Cordyline~rubra|accessdate=2010-06-26}} narrow elliptic in shape. Flowering occurs from summer, being lilac in colour.Cundall. P., (2008) Native Plants:The definitive guide to Australian plants, Global Book Publishing Lane Cove, N.S.W, p. 127, {{ISBN|978-1-74048-027-7}} The fruit is a bright red berry, 10 mm (0.4 in) in diameter. It grows on panicles 10 to 40 cm (4–16 in) long.

This species propagates easily from seeds or stem cuttings. Cordyline rubra is not as widely seen in cultivation as C. australis, however it is also well suited to gardens with moist soils in semi shade. It is a resilient plant and can tolerate neglect. Also suited as an indoor pot plant.{{cite web|title=Cordyline rubra|work=Brisbane Rainforest Action and Information Network|url=http://www.brisrain.webcentral.com.au/01_cms/details_pop.asp?ID=91|access-date=2010-06-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110216004342/http://www.brisrain.webcentral.com.au/01_cms/details_pop.asp?ID=91|archive-date=2011-02-16|url-status=dead}} Occasionally it hybridizes with Cordyline petiolaris in the wild.