Dracaena atropurpurea Roxburgh var. gracilis (Baker) Baker; D. elliptica var. gracilis Baker; D. gracilis (Baker) J. D. Hooker (1892), not Salisbury (1796, nom. illeg., included D. marginata Lamarck).

Plants shrubby, 1--5 m tall. Stems branched; internodes longer than wide. Leaves spaced along distal part of branches, distinctly petiolate; petiole ca. 1 cm, base neither enlarged nor covering internode; leaf blade linear-lanceolate or narrowly elliptic-lanceolate, 10--15 × 2--3 cm, midvein distinct. Inflorescence terminal, branched, 7--10 cm; rachis glabrous. Flowers solitary, rarely paired; pedicel ca. 10 mm, articulate above middle. Perianth greenish, sometimes flushed red or purple, 2--2.3 cm.

Chinese plants were treated in FRPS as Dracaena gracilis which is an illegitimate name (a later homonym). J. J. Bos (pers. comm.) notes that the type specimen of D. elliptica var. gracilis, from Penang, Malaysia, differs from typical D. elliptica only in having somewhat narrower leaves. He believes that the plant should be treated under D. elliptica but does not support any infraspecific status for it.

S Guangxi [Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam].