The Dragon Trees

It began with a load roar, a tearing sound and then a horrible sound of branches snapping. Early on a recent Sunday morning I looked out of a window and saw a massive acacia had been uprooted by Santa Anna winds. It had smashed through an orchid house I had just constructed but, even worse, it had torn limbs from the Dracaena draco. In the following weeks the damage has been cleared away, but the severed limbs of the Canary Island dragon tree cannot be reattached, at least not without massive surgery. After twenty-five years it has developed from a four-inch pot plant into a handsome, luxuriant specimen almost twenty feet tall.

These are not short-lived plants; they grow and develop slowly. A famous specimen of D. draco on Teneriffe was seventy feet tall and had a girth of forty-five feet when it was finally blown over many years ago. It was believed to be well over a thousand years of age, but records are uncertain. With these, as with other monocotyledonous plants, ring-dating is not possible.

The dragon-trees form a succulent subset of the Dracaena genus, a member of the Agavaceae1. Dracaenas are found in tropical and sub-tropical areas around the world and comprise over 50 species. The succulent tree subset is much smaller, recently increasing to six species. It includes, apart from the well-known D. draco from islands off the western shelf of North Africa (Teneriffe, Gran Canaria, Cape Verde), the dragon's blood tree D. cinnabari from Socotra, an island off the eastern side of the continent. Two lesser known species are found on the mainland of east Africa, (D. ombet, D. schizantha) and D. serrulata occurs in southwest Arabia. Recently, a new species has been discovered in very small numbers in the southwest corner of Gran Canaria2. It is a smaller species than D. draco and is said to be closer to the east African species. Also, Myron Kimnach has reported seeing a separate form of D. draco from the mountains of Morocco. It was discovered in 1997 and is now termed D. draco ssp. asjgal. This form is taller than the normal type.

Tree dracaenas are found naturally on or adjacent to the north-western and north-eastern African shores. However, their fossils have also appeared in southern France. It is currently thought that all species of succulent tree dracaenas were inhabitants of the coastline of the Tethys sea, the large body of water once separating Africa from and the Eurasian continent that now, after millions of years of continental drift, has been compressed into the much smaller Mediterranean sea.

Of these species only two are grown in southern California. D. draco is by far the more commonly cultivated. It was introduced to this area early last century and large specimens can be seen in gardens from Santa Barbara all the way to the Mexican border. The specimen in front of the Hotel del Coronado is noteworthy; its presence in Hollywood movies of the forties elevated the fame of the plant. Some specimens in Balboa Park approach thirty feet in height. It has been found possible to move them even when large, an expensive but feasible operation. The leaves can be used for basket weaving.

The other species grown, D. cinnibari, was introduced to California more recently. To my knowledge there are no more than a few specimens that have reached tree-like proportions. In this area the plant at Grigsby's nursery, now about fifteen feet tall with a heavy trunk, was planted nearly thirty years ago. The leaves are narrower and are hollowed. Recently, it has begun to flower and should provide seed that was not available previously except from Socotra. It will be interesting to see whether the famed dragon's blood, a red sap that is obtained from incisions made in the trunk, will possess the same properties as it does in its habitat. The resin, also known as cinnabar, was used as a pigment in paint, for treating dysentery and for enhancing the color of precious stones and staining glass and marble. It has found fame in the burnishing of wood for Italian violins, including those of Stradivari. Of all species known it is probably the most dramatic in outline.

In cultivation, neither species presents special difficulties in coastal southern California. By coastal, I mean regions within thirty miles or so from the coast. Further inland more watering is required and protection from desiccating winds is beneficial. Both species are native to islands and will withstand severe coastal winds without difficulty. Neither species will tolerate more than a few degrees of frost. It also appears that, apart from being well drained, soil requirements are not special. By providing additional water, particularly in the younger years, growth is increased. They are not untidy plants and can be planted next to pools. Leaf shedding occurs just once per year.

These plants can be raised from seed or ``cuttings''. Seed-raising of the dracaenas does not generally give good germination results. However, seedlings appear plentifully around established plants. This results after the seeds pass through the digestive systems of birds that enjoy the orange, succulent fruit. Incidentally, the fruits of D. cinnabari were once the food of the dodo, the now extinct bird that inhabited several islands of the Indian Ocean, including Socotra. It has been suggested that the low numbers of D. cinnabari seedlings seen on the island is a direct result of the lack of this bird to process the seeds.

The term ``cuttings'' is somewhat misleading when applied to these plants. A cutting would be a two or three feet length of stem terminated by apical growth and might weigh several hundred pounds. However, these massive shoots will root if placed in a container in the shade, watered occasionally and misted more frequently in hot weather.

These are trees to be planted for future return. You will not see them planted within instant gardens or in shopping malls. If given ten or twenty years, their presence will focus attention in a scene; if given fifty years they will dominate it. They offer a more massive, tree-like structure with softer edges than tree yuccas, agaves, palms or other monocotyledonous species can provide. With relatively low height and compact, aerodynamic profiles they withstand fierce winds without flinching. As true succulents, they are unlikely to burn in brush fires. There are no signs so far that they succumb to insects or diseases except in old age. So, planting them for posterity is a worthwhile consideration. But give them an open space. They are not immune to the falling limbs of fifty-foot trees.

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