Dragon tree - Dracaena draco

Drago Milenario - TenerifeI first encountered this tree while vacationing on the island of Tenerife, Spain. The "Drago Milenario" (Thousand Year old Draco) is one of the main tourist attractions on the island. It is a very impressive tree and unlike any other that I had seen. The images below will help give an idea of what the Dragon tree looks like up close and at various stages of development.
The trees above are actually several young Dracos growing very close together. These are in Torremolinos on the grounds of the conference center. There are a lot of Dracos planted along the Costa del Sol (The coast in the far south of Spain). Dracos can only grow in areas where it never freezes.
Most Dracos that I have seen start branching at about 2-3 meters off the ground although I have seen some that grow straight up to 8-10 meters without braching.
The images above and below are of the Draco flower at two different stages of development.

Above and below you can see how the branches develop and what the "leaves" look like up close.



For years I have been taking pictures of trees and trying to capture the interesting delails related to each tree species.  Now both of my son's have developed and interest in photography and my oldest son has just started his own photography website Manuel Livingstone Photography.

4 comments:

  1. Wow! That 1st pic is amazing!!!! It has to be over 100 yrs old! A quick story...I was riding my bike down the street and saw that a neighbor had cut down alot of their Dracaena branches..I was thrilled! lol..cut them up into several 6-8' pieces ,put some rooting hormone on the bottom,popped them into the ground and 3 months later I now have 6 beautiful healthy plants! Very easy to grow here in Florida. I had no idea they grew that large though!! Thanx for sharing :)

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  2. Usually only seeds work, said this cause I have several dragos at home but never by agamic reproduction.

    Regards

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  3. Marvellous information about Dragon tree and other forests tree of island of Tenerife.The photos are very nice. I also like Draco flowers.I am planning for Working In Tenerife in future.Give me some suggestions about this issue.Thanks.

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  4. to the person who rooted the branches
    Where in FL are you?
    I am trying to either sprout some seeds or root a branch but would need one. any help would be nice

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