Dragon tree (Dracaena draco)

Evergreen tree, trunk robust, usually highly branched, up to 20 m. Leaves entire, narrow and long, up to 60 cm long, green or glaucous. Inflorescences terminal and branched, with white or greenish-white flowers. Fruits round, fleshy, orangey-yellow or orange when ripe, 1-1.5 cm in diameter. This emblematic species grows naturally in the archipelagos of Madeira, the Canaries and Cape Verde, home to the typical subspecies (draco), while the subspecies D. ajgal is found in Morocco. Typical of the thermophile zone, it is currently very scarce in the wild, although it can be common in specific areas of the Canaries and Cape Verde, but particularly in the Anti Atlas mountains of Morocco, where thousands of wild specimens thrive. Tenerife is home to the most famous dragon trees in Icod de los Vinos and La Orotava, although the latter specimen was destroyed by a hurricane in the 19th century. In the past, ‘dragon’s blood’ (tree resin) was a traded commodity, obtained by making a cut in the trunk, from where the red sap was extracted.