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Written by Steve Andrews
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 The Dragon Tree (Dracaena draco), or Drago as it is known in Spanish, is a species you can’t visit Tenerife without failing to notice. Dragon Trees are grown in parks and gardens all around the island and many of the large ones are most impressive with their strange, almost prehistoric appearance, with twisted branches forming the head and their crowns of spiky leaves.
The Drago Milenario in Icod de los Vinos is said to be between 1,000 and 3,000 years old, and this mighty specimen, which grows surrounded by the Parque del Drago is one of the most-visited tourist attractions on Tenerife. The huge Dragon Tree itself has become a symbol of the island and appears in countless guidebooks, on postcards and even on T-shirts.
 Most towns and villages in Tenerife have their own special Dragon Trees
that over the many years have gained their own distinctive character
and appearance. The older trees have wider trunks and more branches at
the top. Some younger specimens grow straight up and un-branched but
crowned with the spiky and tough leaves and in fact, it can take as
many as ten years of growth before the Dragon Tree will flower for the
first time. It is after the first flowering that it will produce its
first new branch.
 The Dragon Tree has a greyish bark and in older trees this gets full of strange shapes, scars and contortions, giving it a very mysterious look. Coupled with the aerial roots that can grow and hang down under the branches like a dragon’s beard it is easy to see how it got its name.
The Dragon Tree has an unusual property too because if it is cut it will bleed a sap that hardens into a dark red resin as it dries. This is known as “dragon’s blood” and has been used in incense sacred to the god Mars, as well as in far more mundane purposes such as being an ingredient in lacqueurs, dyes and varnishes.
 It is said that the original inhabitants of Tenerife, who are known as the Guanches, used to hold the Dragon Tree as sacred, and it is easy to understand why. The Guanches also made shields from the bark and used its red sap for medicinal purposes and in preparations for embalming their dead.
The dragon’s blood resin has been used in more modern times to treat ulcers and haemorrhages, as well as for strengthening the gums and helping to clean the teeth.
 Dragon Tree trunks have alos been used as beehives, often when the tree is still alive. There is a second ancient Dragon Tree in Icod de los Vinos, in Tenerife, that has a beehive in it and the insects can be seen flying in and out through a crack that has been cut into the bark.
 Dragon Trees produce hundreds of small white flowers on flowering spikes and these are followed by green berries, which turn reddish orange when mature. The berries contain a single hard rounded seed, and these are easy enough to germinate provided they are first of all soaked for a day, although they may take a month or longer before they sprout.
There used to be many more Dragon Trees growing wild in Tenerife but sadly these were long ago cut down and used. Today the Dragon Tree is a protected species and there are still a few wild specimens growing on rocky barrancos and cliffs.
Besides Tenerife, the Dragon Tree grows naturally on La Palma and Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands and is also found growing on Cape Verde and Madeira.
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Tenerife Island