The Ti Plant (aka Good Luck Plant, Cordyline fruticosa) is originally from the Far East, but now grown throughout the tropics and indoors nearly world-wide. It is an important plant culturally, as well as a food, but it also has multiple other uses.
The Ti Plant is a pretty houseplant, as it is now available in many different cultivars displaying various color patterns, from green to pinks and reds. As an indoor houseplant it has been proven to help to purify the air.
The Ti plant has an edible root that can be boiled or baked, is nutritious, a good survival food, as well as good tasting with a sweet molasses-like flavor. It is also used as a sweetener in other foods, and a fermented drink is also made from the root.
The leaves of the Ti Plant are also used in multiple ways: used to make skirts, or other traditional dress in Pacific Islands cultures, for wrapping and cooking food, as a shelter cover, and even as a sterile bandage (the terminal unfurled leaf). The leaves are also edible by themselves as a potherb (though they don’t have much flavor).
Both the leaves and the root of the Ti Plant are also used in traditional medicine, though there has been little scientific investigation into their activity. Internally, the leaves are used for inflammation, fevers, respiratory conditions, high blood pressure and digestive disturbances. Externally the leaves are also used for earache and for infections of the eyes, for wound healing, and abscesses of the gums. The root is also used for inflammation, toothache, and as a styptic. One word of caution, this plant is easy to confuse with Dracaena, so make sure you know the difference, as Dracaena will burn the mouth and hands.
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