Dragon Tree (Dracaena draco)

FAMILY: AGAVACEAE (Agave Family)

The Dragon Tree Dracaena draco gets its name from its red sap, which was thought to be dragon's blood by early inhabitants of the tree's native Canary Islands. These people of the late 1400s, called the Guanches, revered the dragon tree as their protector, and they used the red resin to embalm their dead, much as the Egyptians used the resins of myrrh and balsam.

The tree is characterized 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. 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 largest of the seven Canary Islands).

When the bark or leaves are cut, it secretes a reddish resin known as Dragon's blood, used in ancient Roman and mediaeval magic, then believed by the users to be the dried blood of dragons. The tree's magical reputation continued into the 18th century, when master violin makers used "dragon's blood" to varnish their hand-crafted instruments. And its legacy continues into the present, as we still use the red resin in varnishes and cosmetics today.

This particular Dragon Tree at the Baby Del is considered one of the finest specimens in San Diego and is listed in Trees of San Diego as such.

Information from San Diego Zoo and Wikipedia