Dracaena draco
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| Dracaena draco | ||||||||||||||
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 The ancient specimen at Icod de los Vinos, Tenerife
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| Dracaena draco (L.) L. |
Dracaena draco, the Canary Islands Dragon Tree or Drago is a subtropical Dragon Tree native to the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Madeira, Azores, and locally in western Morocco.
The tree is characterised by a single or multiple trunk growing up to 12 m tall (rarely more), with a dense umbrella-shaped canopy of thick leaves. It grows slowly, requiring about ten years to reach 1 m tall. Young trees remain with only a single stem; branching occurs when the tree flowers, when two side shoots at the base of the flower panicle continue the growth as a fork in the stem. Being monocotyledonous, Dracaena draco does not display annual rings and age can only be estimated by the number of branch forking occurrences (indicating the number of flowering episodes) and measuring the frequency of flowering (less than annual). Some specimens are believed to be up to 650 years old; the oldest is growing at Icod de los Vinos in northwest Tenerife.
The recently discovered wild populations in western Morocco have been described as a separate subspecies, Dracaena draco subsp. ajgal, while those on Gran Canaria are sometimes distinguished as a separate species Dracaena tamaranae.
When the bark or leaves are cut, it secretes a reddish resin known as Dragon's blood, used in ancient Roman and mediaeval magic and alchemy, then believed by the users to be the dried blood of dragons.[citation needed]
[edit] References
- Bañares, A. et al. (1998). Dracaena draco. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Listed as Vulnerable (VU A1abcde v2.3)
- Arkive: Dracaena draco factsheet.
- Dracaena draco in Morocco (photo gallery).
- The climate requirements for Dracaena draco defined by its borders: Northernmost tree in the world, near 40°, northern Azores Islands and Southernmost dragon tree in the world, near 38°, 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'Academie des Sciences Serie III Sciences de la Vie 320(3): 267-277.
