''Dracaena draco'', the Canary Islands dragon tree or drago, is a

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones immediately to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Ge ...

tree in the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

'' Dracaena'',

native Native may refer to: People * '' Jus sanguinis'', nationality by blood * '' Jus soli'', nationality by location of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Nat ...

to the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Madeira, western Morocco, and possibly introduced into the Azores. It was first described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

in 1762 as ''Asparagus draco''. In 1767 he assigned it to the new genus, '' Dracaena''. A related tree of similar appearance, the Socotra dragon tree ''

Dracaena cinnabari ''Dracaena cinnabari'', the Socotra dragon tree or dragon blood tree, is a dragon tree native to the Socotra archipelago, part of Yemen, located in the Arabian Sea. It is named after the blood-like color of the red sap that the trees produce. ...

'', grows on the island of

Socotra Socotra, locally known as Saqatri, is a Yemeni island in the Indian Ocean. Situated between the Guardafui Channel and the Arabian Sea, it lies near major shipping routes. Socotra is the largest of the six islands in the Socotra archipelago as ...

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

, more than 7000 km from the Canary Islands.

Description

''Dracaena draco'' is an evergreen long lived tree capable of exceeding in height and having a trunk of or more in circumference, starting with a smooth bark that evolves to a more rough texture as it ages. The "dragon tree" is a

Monocot Monocotyledons (), commonly referred to as monocots, (Lilianae ''sensu'' Chase & Reveal) are flowering plants whose seeds contain only one Embryo#Plant embryos, embryonic leaf, or cotyledon. A monocot taxon has been in use for several decades, but ...

, with a branching growth pattern currently placed in the asparagus family (

Asparagaceae Asparagaceae (), known as the asparagus family, is a family of flowering plants, placed in the order Asparagales of the monocots. The family name is based on the edible garden asparagus, '' Asparagus officinalis''. This family includes both ...

, subfamily Nolinoidae). When young it has a single stem. At about 10–15 years of age the stem stops growing and produces a flower spike with white, lily-like perfumed flowers, followed by coral berries. Soon a crown of terminal buds appears and the plant starts branching. Each branch grows for about 10–15 years and re-branches, so that a mature plant has an umbrella-like habit. It grows slowly, requiring about 10 years to reach in height, but at times, grows much faster. Despite being a monocotyledon, it has annual growth rings. There is considerable genetic variation within the Canary Island dragon trees. The form found on

Gran Canaria Gran Canaria (, ; ), also Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands, a Spain, Spanish archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Northwest Africa. the island had a population of that constitut ...

is now treated as a separate species, '' Dracaena tamaranae'', based on differences in flower structure. The form endemic to

La Palma La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and historically San Miguel de La Palma, is the most northwesterly island of the Canary Islands, a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in Macaronesia in the North Atlantic Ocean. La Pa ...

, initially branches very low with numerous, nearly vertical branches arranged fastigiately. There is a forest of such trees at Las Tricias, Garafia district, La Palma. Subspecies: * ''D. draco'' subsp. ''draco'': Endemic to Madeira and Canary Islands * ''D. draco'' subsp. ''ajgal'' Benabid & Cuzin: Endemic to Morocco * ''D. draco'' subsp. ''caboverdeana'' Marrero Rodr. & R.S.Almeida: Endemic to the Cape Verde islands ''

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...

'' considers the Moroccan and Cape Verdean forms to be separate species, '' Dracaena ajgal'' and '' Dracaena caboverdeana''.

Distribution and habitat

''Dracaena draco'' is native to

Macaronesia Macaronesia (; ) is a collection of four volcanic archipelagos in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlantic, North Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of North Africa and Europe. Each archipelago is made up of a number of list of islands in the Atlantic Oc ...

and southwest

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, where it is commonly cultivated as an ornamental plant. On the Canary and Madeira archipelagos, wild endemic populations today are known only in

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

and

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

after recently going extinct in the wild in

. Wild populations in Morocco extend to the southwest

Atlas Mountains The Atlas Mountains are a mountain range in the Maghreb in North Africa. They separate the Sahara Desert from the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; the name "Atlantic" is derived from the mountain range, which stretches around through M ...

. Its origin on the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

is uncertain but it is thought to result from an introduction made by the Portuguese prior to 1500 with seeds from

and

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

, as some individuals were observed to have similarities with the Cape Verdean subspecies (subsp. ''caboverdeana''); there are around 200-300 individuals on remote sites in the island of São Jorge and a few more on other islands and it is unknown if these populations can be considered native or the result of an early introduction.

Uses

When the bark or leaves are cut they secrete a reddish

resin A resin is a solid or highly viscous liquid that can be converted into a polymer. Resins may be biological or synthetic in origin, but are typically harvested from plants. Resins are mixtures of organic compounds, predominantly terpenes. Commo ...

, one of several sources of substances known as

dragon's blood Dragon's blood is a bright red resin which is obtained from different species of a number of distinct plant genera: '' Calamus'' spp. (previously ''Daemonorops'') also including '' Calamus rotang'', '' Croton'', '' Dracaena'' and ''Pterocarpus'' ...

. Red resins from this tree contain many mono- and dimeric flavans that contribute to the red color of the resins. Dragon's blood has a number of traditional medical uses, although dragon's blood obtained from ''Dracaena draco'' was not known until the 15th century, and analyses suggest that most dragon's blood used in art was obtained from species of the genus '' Calamus'' formerly placed in ''Daemonorops''. The primary and secondary plant body are the site of the secretory plant tissues that form dragon's blood. These tissues include ground parenchyma cells and cortex cells. Dragon's blood from ''Dracaena draco'' and ''Dracaena cinnabari'' can be distinguished by differences in 10 compounds and a dominant flavonoid DrC11 missing in ''Dracaena draco''. The

Guanches The Guanche were the Indigenous peoples, indigenous inhabitants of the Spain, Spanish Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean some to the west of modern Morocco and the North African coast. The islanders spoke the Guanche language, which i ...

worshiped a specimen in Tenerife, and hollowed its trunk into a small

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred space, sacred place, such as a shrine, protected by ecclesiastical immunity. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This seconda ...

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, natural history, naturalist, List of explorers, explorer, and proponent of Romanticism, Romantic philosophy and Romanticism ...

saw it at the time of his visit. It was tall and in circumference, and was estimated to be 6,000 years old. It was destroyed by a storm in 1868.

Cultivation

''Dracaena draco'' is cultivated and widely available as an

ornamental tree Ornamental plants or ''garden plants'' are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars th ...

for parks, gardens, and drought tolerant water conserving sustainable landscape projects. It has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. It includes the full range of cultivated p ...

. In 2017, the city of

Angra do Heroísmo Angra do Heroísmo (), or simply Angra, is a city and municipality on Terceira Island, Portugal, and one of the three capital cities of the Azores. Founded in 1478, Angra was historically the most important city in the Azores, as seat of the Roma ...

(

Terceira Island Terceira () is a volcanic island in the Azores archipelago, about a third of the way across the North Atlantic Ocean at a similar latitude to Portugal's capital Lisbon, with the island group forming an insular part of Portugal. It is one of the ...

) planted a grove of 200 dragon trees. The Museum of Wine on

Pico Island Pico Island (''Ilha do Pico,'' ) is an island in the Central Group, Azores, Central Group of the Portugal, Portuguese Azores. The landscape features an eponymous volcano, Mount Pico, Ponta do Pico, which is the highest mountain in Portugal, the A ...

, Azores, has one of the largest concentrations of this species in Macaronesia, some being more than 100 years old. File:20190928 161709 Richtone(HDR).jpg, A large dragon's blood tree in

Amadora Amadora (), officially Amadora City (), is a List of cities in Portugal, city and concelho, municipality in the northwest of the Lisbon metropolitan area and 10 km from central Lisbon. The population in 2011 was 175,136, in an area of 23.78&nb ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

File:Dragon Tree in the Will Rogers Memorial Park in Beverly Hills, California.JPG, Dragon tree in the Will Rogers Memorial Park in

Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hills ...

Symbolism

''Dracaena draco'' is the natural symbol of the island of

, together with the blue chaffinch.

Notable trees

Citations

General bibliography

Arkive: ''Dracaena draco'' factsheet

(photo gallery). * The climate requirements for ''Dracaena draco'' defined by its borders

northern Azores Islands an

Victoria, Australia (photos). * Benabid, A. & Cuzin, F. (1997). Dragon tree (''Dracaena draco'' subsp. ''ajgal'' Benabid et Cuzin) populations in Morocco: Taxonomical, biogeographical and phytosociological values. ''Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences'' Série III Sciences de la Vie 320(3): 267–277.

External links

* * Vietnamese Dracaena draco i
cây phát tài núi
{{Authority control draco Flora of Macaronesia Flora of Morocco Plants described in 1762 Vulnerable plants Tenerife Garden plants of Africa Ornamental trees Drought-tolerant trees Trees of Mediterranean climate 1762 in Spain Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Habitats Directive species