Dracaena Varieties: 37 Different Types of Snake Plants

Snake plants (Dracaena trifasciata, formerly called Sansevieria), sometimes referred to as Mother-in-Law’s Tongue, are succulents that work well as houseplants. These unique houseplants are staples of interior plant design. They make great additions to just about any household, including smaller areas.

Because most varieties grow vertically and don’t take up much horizontal space, they work well for areas that have room for taller houseplants. They are resilient and drought-tolerant plants that can tolerate most conditions. However, each variety has a different look and has slightly different needs.

So, if you’ve decided to add one of these popular succulents to your indoor garden, but aren’t sure which variety to choose from, you are in the right place! We’ve hand picked some of our favorite types of snake plants and compiled them into a comprehensive list. You’ll find details of each plant below, including pictures and a quick care overview. Let’s dig in!

African Spear Dracaena

Scientific name: Dracaena angolensis

• Plant Type: Herbaceous perennial succulent
• Plant Size: Up to 6-7 feet tall and 2-3 feet wide
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month during winter
• Sun Needs: Full shade to full sun

Dracaena angolensis, more commonly known as African Spear Dracaena or Cylindrical Snake Plant, is a unique variety known for its distinctive cylindrical leaves.

This variety features long, cylindrical grayish-green leaves. Each leaf has narrow vertical grooves and light green bands along the width.

Young leaves are thinner and relatively easy to bend. Some plant shops use their bendiness to their advantage by braiding the leaves, giving this plant a distinctive appearance.

Aloe Guineensis

Scientific name: Dracaena hyacinthoides

• Plant Type: Hardy perennial
• Plant Size: 2-4 feet tall
• Water Needs: Every other week or every month during winter
• Sun Needs: Moderate to Bright Indirect Sunlight

Aloe Guineensis, or Dracaena hyacinthoides, is considered a weed in its native lands of east, central, and South Africa.

Like most snake plants, it is straightforward to cultivate and is a hardy houseplant that can tolerate neglect. It can absorb some airborne toxins and produce oxygen at night.

Dracaena Hyacinthoides has olive-green flat, fibrous leaves that form a sword shape. They produce tall flower spikes on which greenish-white small, tubular flowers appear in clusters.

Bantel’s Sensation Dracaena

Scientific name: Dracaena trifasciata ‘Bantel’s Sensation‘

• Plant Type: Hardy perennial
• Plant Size: Up to 3 feet tall, taller in bright light
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full shade to full sun

Bantel’s Sensation is a distinctive cultivar that features long, slender variegated leaves. It is commonly referred to as “White Dracaena” because of its attractive white stripes.

Though this is a nursery-produced cultivar, its parent plant (Dracaena Trifasciata) is native to Africa, mainly in regions between Nigeria and Congo.

This unique plant gets its name from St. Louis, Missourian Gustav Bantel, who developed this cultivar and patented it in 1948.

While you likely won’t see many flowers arise from this plant, it can produce long, vertical flower stalks. Typically, each plant will just have one stem with greenish-white flower clusters.

Black Dragon

Scientific name: Dracaena trifasciata ‘Black Dragon’

• Plant Type: Evergreen perennial
• Plant Size: Up to 10 inches tall
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full shade to full sun

The Black Dragon is a dwarf variety that is easy to recognize due to its dark, glossy leaves and pretty rosette-shaped growth patterns.

Its flat, succulent leaves are such a dark color of green that they may appear black when you first see them. Each leaf has green horizontal bands that are hard to spot unless you’re looking for them.

While it’s rare for Black Dragons to flower, they can produce vertical flower stalks covered in clusters of buds. You’ll be blessed with green to creamy-white tiny, tubular, and slightly fragrant flowers if they bloom.

Black Gold

Scientific name: Dracaena Trifasciata ‘Black Gold’

• Plant Type: Perennial
• Plant Size: Up to 3 feet
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full shade to full sun

Black Gold Snake Plants are low-maintenance houseplants that thrive in full to partial shade. It features deep green leaves with bright yellowish-gold edges – a beautifully contrasting combination.

This perennial succulent is a member of the Agavaceae family native to India and Africa. Black Gold makes an excellent choice for narrow spaces because of its tight vertical growth habit.

Bird’s Nest

Scientific name: Dracaena trifasciata ‘Hahnii’

• Plant Type: Evergreen perennial
• Plant Size: Up to 1 foot tall
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full Shade to full sun

Bird’s Nest is a stemless evergreen succulent that grows and spreads rapidly, making it easy to propagate; all you need to do is separate the new growth.

Sylvan Hahn discovered and patented the Dracaena trifasciata ‘Hahnii’ cultivar in 1938, giving it its botanical name. This beauty has dark, broad green leaves and creamy white horizontal stripes. Its leaves are flat, smooth, and taper toward the end, creating a lance shape.

The foliage forms a rosette shape, resembling a Bird’s nest, hence its common name. Rarely this variety will produce vertical flower stalks with creamy green-white blooms.

Blue Dracaena

Scientific name: Dracaena hanningtonii

• Plant Type: Evergreen perennial
• Plant Size: Up to 5 feet tall
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full Shade to full sun

Dracaena hanningtonii is an evergreen, flowering plant naturally growing in tropical Africa and Asia. It is a hardy plant that thrives in most conditions, as long as it isn’t overwatered.

In Ethiopia, Blue Dracaena leaves are harvested for the fibers to create straps, brushes, and ties for bundles. It gets its botanical name from Christian Ehrenberg, a German naturalist. However, Willhelm Kattwinkel was the first to discover this plant in 1911.

Dracaena hanningtonii produces thick, pointed leaves that grow in two opposing rows, forming a fan shape. The foliage is bluish-green though edges and tips are red-brown and white.

Unlike most varieties, each leaf curves inward to create a deep valley within the lance shape. This snake plant can produce tiny grayish-white, tubular flowers that grow from the base and form multiple upward branches.

Ceylon Bowstring Hemp

Scientific name: Dracaena zeylanica

• Plant Type: Evergreen perennial
• Plant Size: 2-3 feet tall and up to 1 foot wide
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full Shade to partial sun

Some people mistake Dracaena zeylanica as the most commonly known species, Mother-in-Law’s Tongue (Dracaena trifasciata). While the two plants are nearly identical, they have some small differences that set the two apart.

Its leaves are long, sword-shaped, and grow upright, similarly to Dracaena trifasciata. The leaves are olive green with pale green wavy-like horizontal stripes.

Unlike the common snake plant variety, Ceylon Bowstring Hemp has slightly more erect but shorter leaves. Although this succulent doesn’t bloom more than once each year, you may get some clusters of greenish-white flowers.

Cleopatra Dracaena

Scientific name: Dracaena cleopatra

• Plant Type: Perennial
• Plant Size: Up to 10 inches
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full Shade to full sun

Dracaena cleopatra is a beautiful, slow-growing hybrid with an intricate pattern on its leaves, which grow in a perfect rosette. This flowering succulent comes from parts of Africa, Madagascar, and southern Asia.

Dracaena cleopatra can withstand shady conditions, though it thrives in warm and bright lighting. Like other varieties, this variety is extremely hardy and resilient as long as it doesn’t get too much water. Standing water can lead to root rot, which can kill it.

Although this is a shorter variety, use heavy cactus soil blends. ‘Cleopatra’ can become top-heavy and tip over like other upward-growing snake plants.

Dracaena Ballyi

Scientific name: Dracaena Ballyi

• Plant Type: Evergreen perennial
• Plant Size: 5-6 inches tall
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full Shade to full sun

Dracaena Ballyi has thin cylindrical leaves with red-brown tips that form a point. Each of its rough-textured leaves has grooves from its base to around three-fourths of its length.

This variety comes from the Swiss botanist Dr. Peter Bally, who worked in Kenya throughout the 1900s. It also goes by the name Dwarf Snake Plant.

You can also get a smaller cultivar called “Minnie,” which has short, stubby leaves and grows around two inches wide before shooting out stolons.

This plant also produces white, bottle-shaped flower spikes that appear in clusters. While it won’t die after it flowers, it may halt leaf production.

Dracaena Burmanica

Scientific name: Dracaena Burmanica

• Plant Type: Perennial
• Plant Size: Up to 3 feet tall
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full Shade to full sun

As a native to hot, sunny regions in tropical West African woods, Dracaena Burmanica prefers warm and bright conditions.

However, like other plant varieties, it will also grow in shady conditions.

Dracaena Burmanica produces grassy-green colored leaves with bright stripes. The foliage grows in a rosette pattern, containing 13 upright leaves.

Though the leave’s margins are green, they can turn white over time.

Image Credit: Sansevieria burmanica © Peter A. Mansfeld, level6.de (2013), via Flickr, Cropped (Image Use Allowed With Attribution)

Dracaena Concinna

Scientific name: Dracaena Concinna

• Plant Type: Perennial
• Plant Size: 1-1.5 feet tall
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full Shade to full sun

Dracaena Concinna is another extremely slow-growing variety. While this type of snake plant isn’t as popular as others, it has some features that some may enjoy.

Unlike most species that grow 3-6 feet tall, Dracaena Concinna grows about 1-1.5 feet at maturity.

This size is ideal for many people because it isn’t as tiny as dwarf species but doesn’t take over as it gets older.

Another unique attribute about this plant is its spoon-shaped, elliptical leaves. They are more likely to have this curvature if they grow in bright light conditions.

The foliage is dark olive-green, and each leaf has irregular pale green bands.

You can also find other cultivars of this plant, though many of them are rare and harder to find. Some cultivars include Dracaena Concinna ‘Sybaja Lake’, Variegated Dracaena Concinna,

It produces densely-packed clusters of yellowish or purplish-white flowers that rise from the roots.

Dracaena Liberica

Scientific name: Dracaena Liberica

• Plant Type: Perennial
• Plant Size: 3-4 feet tall, sometimes more
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full Shade to full sun

Dracaena Liberica is considered an environmental weed in Queensland, though it is a popular ornamental plant in homes all over the United States.

Issues arise when individuals cultivate Dracaena Liberica as a garden plant, where it begins to spread as it forms dense colonies wildly.

Younger plants have broad, deep green leaves that slowly fade to gray as they mature. The leaves’ edges have a slight wave shape, giving them a more relaxed look.

Dracaena Longiflora

Scientific name: Dracaena Longiflora

• Plant Type: Perennial
• Plant Size: 3-4 feet tall
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full Shade to full sun

Dracaena Longiflora is native to Africa, primarily in Namibia, Angola, and the Congo.

This plant features smooth, dark green leaves with an irregular band pattern. They can grow up to 4 feet tall, so ensure you have space for it as it matures.

One unique attribute of this variety is its stunning flowers that appear annually in the summer. The pretty panicle-like blooms are white and have a pleasant scent.

Image Credit: Sansevieria longiflora © Peter A. Mansfeld, level6.de (2012), CC BY-NC-SA 2.0, via Flickr, Cropped (Image Use Allowed With Attribution)

Dracaena Patens

Scientific name: Dracaena Patens

• Plant Type: Perennial
• Plant Size: 1.5-3 feet tall
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full Shade to full sun

Dracaena Patens is a stunning flowering snake plant with leaves growing in varying directions. Dr. Nicolas Edward Brown, a herbarium botanist, would be the first to describe this species, among 10,000 others.

This plant has v-shaped curved leaves that grow in a rosette pattern and spread out like a fan. It has bright green leaves with pale green horizontal bands like other varieties. As the plant matures, its foliage has more of a blue tinge.

It has an erratic flowering habit. You may see tiny, grayish-white flowers atop vertical flower spikes appear once each year.

Father-in-Law’s Tongue

Scientific name: Dracaena aubrytiana

• Plant Type: Perennial
• Plant Size: Up to 2 feet tall
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full Shade to full sun

Father-in-Law’s Tongue is an easy-to-recognize variety due to its long, glossy leaves with a marbling effect. Unlike the Mother-in-Law’s Tongue, this in-law has slightly larger leaves, though it’s just as simple to grow.

As a relative to Dracaena Kirkii, this snake plant has similar characteristics. However, Dracaena aubrytiana has more upright leaves with smoother edges. Its leaves are dark green or grayish-green with faded white specks throughout.

Rarely this succulent will produce flower stalks. Usually, there will just be a single stalk, though it’s possible for there to be more.

Fernwood Mikado

Scientific name: Dracaena bacularis ‘Fernwood Mikado‘

• Plant Type: Evergreen perennial
• Plant Size: 3 feet tall
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full Shade to full sun

Dracaena bacularis ‘Fernwood Mikado‘ is a popular plant that some people confuse with Dracaena Bacularis, though it’s a hybrid of Dracaena Suffructicosa and Dracaena Parva.

While at first glance, they may look similar, especially as small plants, they have more different features as they mature. Fernwood Mikado has dense evergreen foliage of thin green leaves with pale green horizontal bands.

Though its leaves appear cylindrical, they have vertical grooves from the base to the tip. The leaves grow in a unique pattern, creating a larger width than most Dracaenas.

This variety can flower, though it will likely happen once each year. Like other varieties, it produces small, white flowers.

Fischeri Singularis Dracaena

Scientific name: Dracaena Fischeri

• Plant Type: Perennial
• Plant Size: Up to 2 feet
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full Shade to full sun

Dracaena Fischeri has deep green stems with a smoky gray banded pattern. At maturity, leaves remain cupped while holding the deep coloration. Commonly grown as office plants, it is a resilient plant that can survive under periods of extreme neglect.

Due to their toughness and ease of growth, they are perfect for growing in indoor gardens. Dracaena Fischeri may produce delicate, lightly scented flowers that emerge from stalks in spring and early summer.

The growth rate of this succulent will vary greatly depending on soil type, sunlight, temperature, and other factors.

Image Credit: NasserHalaweh, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons, Cropped (Image Use Allowed With Attribution)

Francisii Dracaena

Scientific name: Dracaena Francisii

• Plant Type: Perennial
• Plant Size: Up to 2 feet tall
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full Shade to full sun

Dracaena Francisii is a distinctive species that looks and grows much differently from many commonly known snake plants. It gets its botanical name from London-born cactus and succulent cultivator Francis K. Horwood.

This unique succulent produces densely packed rows of leaves on each of its stems, creating spiral-shaped foliage.

Dracaena Francisii has bright, dark green foliage with lighter green-gray horizontal wavy stripes. Each of its leaves has a shallow channel with deep green vertical lines. Although relatively uncommon, this succulent may produce tiny whitish-green tubular flowers.

Gracillis Dracaena

Scientific name: Dracaena gracilis

• Plant Type: Evergreen perennial
• Plant Size: 2-3 feet tall
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Bright, filtered light

This unique succulent is arguably one of the most interesting-looking snake plants. The eye-catching foliage features rosettes with conical, enrolled pale green leaves that form a spiral pattern.

Dracaena gracilis produces brilliant yellowish-green six-stellate fragrant flowers in late fall to early winter and even produces berries.

You can plant this variety in a hanging basket, allowing its distinctive leaves to stand out. However, it also looks great in a planter as a part of an indoor garden.

Jade Marginata

Scientific name: Dracaena trifasciata ‘Jade Pagoda‘

• Plant Type: Perennial
• Plant Size: 30-50cm
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full Shade to full sun

Jade Marginata, or Dracaena trifasciata ‘Jade Pagoda‘, is a dwarf variety of Mother-in-Law’s Tongue. It is a variegated cultivar of the popular Bird’s Nest Snake Plant, though its rosette formation resembles Hahnii varieties.

You can easily differentiate this succulent by its dark, glossy, green leaves and bright yellow vertical stripes. This easy-to-grow plant makes beautiful ornamental, tabletop, and shelf decor in just about any room in the home.

Not only is it stunning, but it will act as a small air purifier in whichever room you choose to place it in. Like other Dracaenas, Jade Marginata produces oxygen during the night.

Kenya Hyacinth

Scientific name: Dracaena Parva

• Plant Type: Evergreen perennial
• Plant Size: 1-1.5 feet tall
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full Shade to full sun

Kenya Hyacinth Snake Plant, or Dracaena Parva, is a flowering evergreen perennial that natively grows in east African forests. Its growth is slow, though this allows you to enjoy it in the same container for longer periods.

Dracaena Parva is unlike most varieties because of its blooming. It gets its common name from the hyacinth-like fragrance the flowers produce. The best part? This plant can bloom regularly.

Nicolas Edward Brown was the first to discover and describe this species in 1915. It features narrow, lance-shaped leaves that are slightly concave.

Younger plants have bright green leaves with light green horizontal bands. The bands fade out as the plant matures, resulting in smooth deep green leaves.

Kirkii Star Dracaena

Scientific name: Dracaena kirkii ‘Baker’

• Plant Type: Evergreen perennial
• Plant Size: Up to 3-3.5 feet tall
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full Shade to full sun

Kirkii Star Dracaena is an evergreen perennial that natively grows in tropical regions. It’s famous for its distinctive cone-shaped blossoms, unlike most Dracaenas.

Its fleshy leaves spread in a crown-like shape, which may droop closer toward the ground as they mature. Dracaena Kirkii is one of the most slow-growing snake plant varieties.

You can also find cultivars of this plant, including Dracaena Kirkii var. Pulchra, Kirkii var. Silver Blue Variegated, Kirkii var. Pulchra Coppertone, and Dracaena Kirkii var. Silver Blue.

Mason’s Congo Dracaena

Scientific name: Dracaena Masoniana

• Plant Type: Perennial
• Plant Size: Up to 5 feet tall
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full Shade to full sun

Mason’s Congo Dracaena, also called Whale’s Fin, is an evergreen perennial semi-succulent plant. It has eye-catching broad leaves similar to a beaver’s tail or paddles, though they are more narrow at its base.

This unique snake plant can grow to be a whopping five feet tall, larger than other Dracaena varieties. Because of its larger size, it’s more efficient in absorbing toxins and harmful pollutants from the air.

Dracaena Masoniana is a stunning plant that’s easy to care for, making it an excellent choice for beginners.

Metallica Siam Silver

Scientific name: Dracaena Metallica

• Plant Type: Perennial
• Plant Size: 2-3 feet tall
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full Shade to full sun

Metallica Siam Silver, also known as Tenzan or Tom Grumbley, is one of the rarest snake plants on the market. These stemless succulents features pale green leaves with fine gray vertical lines. These colors give the foliage a silvery metallic look.

 Its flowers grow in clusters within the top third and have a sweet scent. Additionally, this plant produces reddish-orange berries.

Moonshine Dracaena

Scientific name: Dracaena trifasciata ‘Moonshine‘

• Plant Type: Perennial
• Plant Size: Up to 2 feet tall
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full Shade to full sun

Moonshine Dracaena is an evergreen perennial succulent known for its silvery-green, wide, tongue-shaped leaves that rise from the ground.

As the foliage grows in its upright pattern, it forms individual divisions of 3-4 leaves, with each section creating a vase shape. Newly emerging leaves are extremely pale green, often looking as if they’re completely white.

You can grow this variety in bright or shady areas of your home, though it may have slightly darker leaves if it grows in deep shade.

This snake plant might produce white and lightly scented flowers. In most cases, Moonshine Dracaena will have more blooms when it grows in bright light conditions.

Mother-In-Law’s Tongue

Scientific name: Dracaena Trifasciata

• Plant Type: Perennial succulent
• Plant Size: Up to 5 feet tall
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full Shade to full sun

When you hear “snake plant” or “Mother-in-Law’s Tongue,” you likely think of Dracaena Trifasciata. Although all varieties and cultivars get grouped in with the same common name, this is the most well-known houseplant of the species.

Mother-in-Law’s Tongue features dark green leaves with an irregular green striped pattern, giving the appearance of a snake’s skin. This plant has sword-shaped, flat leaves with upright growth, forming a basal rosette from the base.

Mature plants may bloom during the spring, producing tiny greenish-white tubular flowers on an upright stalk. Once it blooms, it will produce small orangish-red berries.

Rhino Grass

Scientific name: Dracaena Desert

• Plant Type: Perennial
• Plant Size: 1-2 feet
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full Shade to full sun

Rhino grass is a flowering succulent that grows natively in open savanna forests, near river banks, or in areas with summer rainfall.

It has tough, pointy, and cylindrical leaves that grow in two ranks. They are deep green and have darker, nearly unnoticeable, greenish-black bands; younger leaves have pale bands.

As the plant matures, its leaves become longitudinally grooved. Dracaena Desert produces groups of 6-10 tiny, pinkish blooms with a grayish-blue base.

Samurai Dwarf

Scientific name: Dracaena Ehrenbergii ‘Samurai Dwarf‘

• Plant Type: Perennial
• Plant Size: 4-6 inches tall
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full Shade to full sun

Samurai Dwarf is one of the shortest plants growing only 4-6 inches tall at maturity. Ironically, this plant is a cultivar of Dracaena Ehrenbergii, one of the tallest varieties.

Dracaena Ehrenbergii Samurai Dwarf is one of the rarest varieties with adorable short and thick green leaves with red-brown and white edges.

Because it stays small during the entirety of its life, it makes an excellent tabletop decor plant and is easy to relocate. This cultivar has pointy leaves growing in opposing directions like its mother plant. However, when looking from the top, it has a flower-like shape.

Sayuri

Scientific name: Dracaena aubrytiana ‘Sayuri’

• Plant Type: Perennial
• Plant Size: Up to 1.5 feet tall
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full sun

Sayuri Snake Plant, sometimes referred to as Silver Dracaena, is a hybrid of Dracaena Cylindrica and Dracaena Gabriella. It has pale grayish-green leaves with vertical blue, silver, and white stripes.

Because of its unique coloring, it has a silvery metallic appearance. Its leaves have a similar shape to Mother-in-Law’s Tongue, making it an excellent option for tight spaces in the home.

The stiff, upright leaves have a broad sword shaping and remain mostly erect, making them good for homes with tight corners.

Though they grow in rosettes, the lengthy leaves make it hard to see the pattern.

It’s rare for Sayuri to flower, but they produce greenish-white blooms with a sweet scent.

Silver Queen Dracaena

Scientific name: Dracaena trifasciata ‘Silver Queen’

• Plant Type: Perennial
• Plant Size: Up to 3 feet tall
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full Shade to full sun

The Silver Queen snake plant features the famous sword-shaped, flat, fleshy leaves, similar to Dracaena Trifasciata. Like other snake plants, it has irregular horizontal light green bands.

With its beautiful silvery-white leaves, it will give any room in your home an exotic look.

Dracaena silver queen makes a perfect low-maintenance houseplant for a gardening beginner. Its beautiful silvery-white foliage will give your home or office an exotic look.

Somali

Scientific name: Dracaena Eilensis

• Plant Type: Evergreen perennial
• Plant Size: Up to 3 feet
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Bright, filtered light

Somali Snake Plants are slow-growing succulents that produce rough, downward-curving leaves. Mature plants usually have two to three bluish-green leaves with horizontal white bands throughout their length.

Dracaena Eilensis also has multiple green vertical stripes, which show areas where the leaves folded in on themselves. Though somewhat uncommon, the Somali may produce blooms annually at most.

Starfish

Scientific name: Dracaena Cylindrica ‘Boncel’

• Plant Type: Perennial
• Plant Size: Up to 1 foot tall
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full Shade to full sun

As the common name suggests, the Starfish has a similar appearance to the sea creature. It features leaves that emerge from a basal rosette but grow apart rather than upright. As the plant matures, gravity may cause the foliage to curl slightly.

The leaves are green with an irregular pale greenish-gray horizontal pattern. Starfish Snake Plants only grow to be about a foot tall, so they’re a bit shorter than most varieties. This variety likely won’t produce its pinkish-white blooms unless it grows in bright, indirect light.

Twisted Sister

Scientific name: Dracaena trifasciata ‘Twisted Sister’

• Plant Type: Perennial
• Plant Size: Up to 15 inches tall
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full Shade to full sun

The Twisted Sister Snake Plant features vibrant gold and green variegated foliage. It gets its common name from the leaves that twist as they grow from the base. While most varieties grow in an upright fashion, this is a unique succulent that makes an eye-catching accent piece.

It closely resembles the Bird’s Nest variety with its twisted rosettes and will grow to be about 15 inches tall at maturity. Although Twisted Sister can tolerate shady areas, it thrives in bright, filtered sunlight.

Variegated

Scientific name: Dracaena Trifasciata ‘Laurentii‘

• Plant Type: Perennial
• Plant Size: Up to 3-4 feet tall
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full Shade to full sun

Variegated plants of all species have grown in popularity because of their unique colors and patterns. Luckily, snake plants have their very own variegated variety. Dracaena Trifasciata ‘Laurentii‘ is one of the most popular varieties due to the bright yellow margins on its leaves.

Like other varieties, this plant is resilient and can withstand most conditions. They don’t require much upkeep, though you should repot to a larger container when it becomes crowded.

Whitney Dracaena

Scientific name: Dracaena Trifasciata ‘Whitney‘

• Plant Type: Perennial
• Plant Size: Up to 1 foot tall
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full Shade to full sun

Whitney Dracaena, or Snake Plant Whitney, is a smaller plant that forms roughly 4-6 rosettes. Its leaves are stiff and thick and feature white-speckled margins.

Dracaena Whitney is an excellent plant for houseplant lovers who enjoy traveling but don’t want to worry about hurting their plants.

Because it’s extremely drought tolerant and thrives in most locations in your home, it requires very little maintenance. However, brighter conditions encourage more vibrant and contrasting colors.

Yoat’s Horn

Scientific name: Dracaena Canaliculata

• Plant Type: Perennial
• Plant Size: Up to 3 feet tall
• Water Needs: Once every 1-2 weeks, once per month in winter
• Sun Needs: Full Shade to full sun

Yoat’s Horn, or Dracaena Canaliculata, is a perennial succulent native to tropical coastal regions in Northern Madagascar. This plant features cylindrical leaves that grow singularly and have linear grooves. It may grow upright or have slight curves.

The green leaves stand out against most Dracaenas because they don’t have distinctive markings. Though it’s not the rarest variety, it is one of the more complex types of snake plants to find.