I have no idea what a Marganita is, braided or otherwise (reminds me of a typo for 'Marginata'). I don't think this is a Dracena of any kind.

Looks to me like a Ficus alli.

I've never grown one, nor know abt its care. Try doing a search for this name & see if the pic matches, then see the care instructions likely to be included in that post.

I wouldn't normally buy a plant, much less a tree abt which I know nothing. Then again I can see that for $10, this seemed like a good deal (this looks a couple of ft. tall at least). Good luck w/ it!

It is a Ficus binnendijkii (also sometimes called F. alii or F. maclellandii).

You can remove the dead parts of the leaves if you want.

Yes, it wants sun or not-sun. Pick one and stick with it. Full direct sun all day long (like in a south window) could be too much, but you can get away with sun for part of the day, sun filtered through curtains, or no sun in a north window.

Always ignore care tags that don't name the plant in question. Ignore about half of the tags that do name the plant: they're not usually much better.

Most of what I know about them is at the above link (which goes to my personal blog), but in the time since writing that, I can add that sometimes, during the winter, they more or less continue business as usual, whatever you've gotten used to during the rest of the year, and sometimes during the winter they go dormant and will throw leaves at you every time you try to water, even if they're very dry and by any logical standard really ought to want the water. Or at least that's my best guess for what mine at home (and some of the ones at work) is doing.

Some leaf drop is maybe to be expected due to the move, though normally that would manifest as leaves turning yellow and falling, not parts of leaves going gray and remaining attached. They're less prone to leaf drop than a lot of their relatives. Giving the plant more light, as opposed to less, will reduce the severity of the leaf drop, and it's possible that you won't have any: when I bought mine, it lost like three leaves and that was it.

My best guess about what's going on would be that either some of the leaves were bent during transit (either from the grower to the retailer or from the retailer to your home), or that parts of the leaves got cold at some point in the plant's journey's. It's probably one or the other. In either case, there's nothing to be done about it now except give it appropriate care and wait.

Your results may vary, but I think these are great plants.

Tracatus, if it appears not to be as the identifier says, try looking at a "Draco" dracaena; see if it resembles more closely what you have.

The yellow and brown leaves does suggest a watering problem.
Winter is still with us...Wiarton Willy says 6 more weeks can be expected. So what's new!

When you water, ALWAYS do so to drainage. Allow full drainage and then dump the water in the saucer, never leave it to be drawn back up. Water used should be at room temperature--leave the container out overnight.

Dracaena (all of the varieties that I know of) do not like soil that is heavily made up with perlite.
Perlite has a make-up of phosphurus and dracaena can be affected by such. Avoid fertilizer that has such high phosphurus content.

Dracaena also resents fluorine. Since most of Canada's taps have treated water (our kids have less cavities), you must find a source of water that is not on such system.

Right now I can believe Montreal, like us in Ontario, has lots of snow outside. Grab some of it and melt it down for later use.
Snow melt is a great way to avoid such tap-water. If you cant do this, then buy bottled water. Got a "No-Frills" near you (part of the Loblaw's chain), they very often have such water on sale. Right now they have 24 bottles (1/2 litre) for $1.97. Keep this for your plants. (but not in the fridge)

Any leaves that have brown tips or yellow edges, cut them off with scissors.

Such browning of leaves can be affected by air currents from doors often opened and closed or from heated air from a heat vent. If such air current cannot be avoided, then simply put it up on a table, a pedestal, or hang it up.
Bright colored walls can often increase the amount of light without bringing about direct light.

Also, dracaena apreciates lower nighttime temperatures---in the range of 15º - 18º celsius..(59 - 64). This can be a problem when the furnace keeps our homes in the high 60's, low 70's. But, too high nighttime temps does cause brown leaves.

I think your biggest challenge though is your watering practices. Study how you water the plant and see if that could be the reason for the leaves being what they are.

Bright light is just that....light that is not hindered by barriers. But bright light need not be direct light.

Jeannie,

Pls. don't come on after the fact once the ID has been made & confirmed & then contradict us. Look again, I made an educated guess at ID & Mr. Sub then came along & confirmed it for sure.

It serves nothing for you to come along & contradict us. Esp. to someone new enough not to recognize that Marganita is a typo for Marginata.

To give lengthy instuctions for the WRONG ID is folly & a waste of everyone's time (& potentially confusing to the original poster). I don't know what you're trying to prove; you are not helping.

Kindly stop doing this!

A big THANK YOU! to ALL who have posted in this thread, to help me with my new acquisition. I was not sure which species it was (as I wrote, "it appears similar to the braided marginata" (typo corrected). I have confirmed it is indeed a braided "Ficus binnendijkii" aka "Ficus Alii", by looking at pictures of those plants. Although it is similar-looking to the braided marginata, this would explain why mine does not have any red striping in its leaves, like the dracena.

The ID led to plenty of helpful information to help me understand and take care of this plant:

http://www.avianweb.com/ficusaliibushes.html
http://plantsarethestrangestpeople.blogspot.com/2008/01/mister-right-ficus-binnendijkii.html

From reading about it in the 2nd link especially, I'm very happy I bought this plant. (And yes, for $10 measly bucks, it's a GREAT deal! It's as big as a small tree, and looks Bonsai-ish). The author of that article described a problem of parts of leaves turning grey and dead, which was mysterious to him as well, despite him being a professional grower of these plants! But from what he wrote, I'm thinking my friend's guess was probably the correct one: the plant did this as a reaction to my taking it home in the middle of winter. Although the car ride from the supermarket was short (easily less than 10 minutes), and I had a plastic bag covering the entire plant, it may still have reacted badly to the transport. It does not appear to be yielding more half-dead leaves of late, (which would seem to favour the winter-drive theory), but it has turned out a few leaves that have shrivelled up and are ready to fall off. But that's less of an issue than the many half-dead ones. I'm going to cut the dead grey part of the leaves with scissors and see if they grow back normally.

Jeannie7: Even though mine isn't a Dracaena, you posted a lot of good educational information, helpful hints in general (that help me to better understand what house plants can be affected by and what to look out for) and to owners of dracaenas in specific; so thanks!

I have this plant, it is small right now, and seems to want to grow out more than up (so I'm always tip pruning side shoots - which have rooted quite well in water for me). It does not complain if I am slow in giving it water, and it's leaves are pretty! The plant is maybe 14 inches in height, yet some of it's leaves it's grown for me are 8 inches in length. I - love - this - plant!

Hope it 'settles' down soon.

Perlite does not have phosphorus (per jeannie). FYI

Alii's are nice plants, and the alii advice you've been given is right on.

As far as the damaged leaves, cutting off part of the leaf will not make part of the leaf grow back. If you can stand it, leave the damaged leaves on for a couple more months at least. It is going to need every bit of green to get over this adjustment period, and the likely cold damage from being moved.

When you see the plant start to put out new leaves, probably sometime around April or June, then I would suggest that you remove the damaged leaves in their entirety, and possibly prune the branches back if they are looking bare. The best time to prune is around June or July, prune the branches back so that each still has two or three leaves on it, and don't cut off more than 1/3 of the plant altogether.

Al (tapla) is a ficus expert, and he may have additional suggestions, especially if you post a new message with the title of Ficus alii.