Dracaena draco

English name: Canary Islands dragon tree

Latin name: Dracaena draco

Family: Asparagus – Asparagaceae

Origin: Madeira, Canary Islands

The Canary Islands dragon tree, in the wild, is extremely rare. It is endemic to Madeira and the Canary Islands and there are only a few hundred specimens. Its tall (up to 20 metres), dark grey trunk divides into branches, where the dark, narrow sword-shaped leaves are arranged in an umbrella-shaped crown.

 For the Guanche people, the Canary Islands’ first known inhabitants, the tree had magical properties. The reason may lie partly in the fact that the resin, flowing after the bark or leaves are cut, oxidizes and turns a reddish colour. Thus the resin was given the name “dragon’s blood”..