Popularly known as "Brazil Log", it is, paradoxically, a shrub native to tropical Africa. The genus Dracaena (from the Greek drakaina, 'dragon', alluding to the Canary Island dragon tree) contains about 120 species, most of them of African origin and bushy in habit. The Latin epithet fragrans means fragrant, in allusion to its aromatic, vanilla-like flowers, highly appreciated by insects and hummingbirds.

This species, with its large, showy, rosette leaves, is very popular as a houseplant (where it rarely flowers). There are dozens of cultivars and ornamental varieties, which play with the colour and shape of their leaves. Many of them are variegated, such as 'Massangeana' or 'Warneckei', others with intense greens such as 'Janet Craig'. They are often cited with the synonym Dracaena deremensis.

It is one of the species selected by NASA in its Clean air study for its capacity to eliminate toxins such as formaldehyde, trichloroethylene and benzene from the atmosphere.