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Tenerife Dragon Tree: A Woody Plant of Ancient Lineage Becomes the Canary Islands' Icon

by DerdriuMarriner

Tenerife, an idyllic Atlantic Ocean island, is home to a world-famous woody plant known as the Tenerife Dragon Tree.

Tenerife, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Morocco, is part of the Canary Islands archipelago. Despite its proximity to northwestern Africa, the archipelago comprises an autonomous community within Spain.

Nicknamed Isla de la Eterna Primavera ("Island of Eternal Spring"), Tenerife is a paradise of microclimates resplendent with biodiversity. The most number of sites preserved by Canaria de Espacios Naturales Protegidos (Canary Islands Network for Protected Natural Areas) occurs in Tenerife, which is honored as the most protected island in the archipelago.

Tenerife Dragon Trees number among the idyllic archipelago's most cherished icons.

Tenerife dragon tree in its native Canary Islands' landscape
Puntagorda, La Palma, northwestern Canary Islands; Saturday, September 3, 2005, 20:55
Puntagorda, La Palma, northwestern Canary Islands; Saturday, September 3, 2005, 20:55

Tenerife

 

Tenerife comprises one of seven main islands in the archipelago called the Canary Islands. It is

located off the Atlantic Ocean coastlines of Morocco in northwestern Africa. But it actually represents an autonomous community within Spain in southwestern Europe.

 

Map of Canary Islands shows eight main islands and three of the archipelago's small islands or islets.

Main islands increased to eight with promotion of La Graciosa ("Graceful") from islet to island in 2018.
Dracaena draco is associated with Tenerife (center), the archipelago's largest island.
Dracaena draco is associated with Tenerife (center), the archipelago's largest island.
Canary Island dog (Presa Canario)
Canary Island dog (Presa Canario)

 

The Canary Islands are not so called because of populations of canary birds. The name instead derives from the derogatory (and untrue) Latin word canaria for the islands' reputedly aggressive (but actually lovably well-behaved) dogs. The reputation stems from the report of an expedition sent by Juba II (52/50 B.C.-A.D. 23), who ruled as:

  • King of Numidia (in modern Algeria and western Turnisia);
  • Husband of Cleopatra Selene II (December 25, 40 B.C.-5 or 6 B.C.);
  • Son-in-law of Roman General Mark Antony (January 14, 83 B.C.-August 1, 30 B.C.) and Egyptian Pharaoh Cleopatra VII Philopator (69 B.C.-August 12, 30 B.C.).

The name Tenerife honors the island's snow-covered volcano, Mount Tiede (Pico del Teide). The native word tene means "mountain." The native word ife means "white."

 

Tenerife dragon trees, Santa Cruz de Tenerife harbor; Thursday, January 2, 2003, 12:10
Tenerife dragon trees, Santa Cruz de Tenerife harbor; Thursday, January 2, 2003, 12:10

Tenerife Dragon Tree: Native Habitat and Range

 

The Tenerife Dragon Tree also answers to the names of:

  • Canary Islands Dragon Tree;
  • Cape Verde Dragon Tree;
  • Madeira Dragon Tree;
  • Morocco Dragon Tree;
  • Porto Santo Dragon Tree.

The name indeed clarifies the tree’s native range. The tree is native to certain Atlantic Ocean coastlines and islands. Specifically, its homelands occur in the dry, rocky, sunlit slopes of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco ( المغرب , al-Maghrib) and of Macaronesia:

  • Canary Islands (Las Islas Canarias), Spain;
  • Cape Verde Islands (As Ilhas de Cabo Verde);
  • Madeira Island (A Ilha da Madeira), Portugal;
  • Porto Santo Island (A Ilha do Porto Santo), Portugal.

The Tenerife Dragon Tree also can be called the Azores Dragon Tree. It is not native to the Azores Islands (As Ilhas dos Açores). It instead represents a woody plant successfully introduced and naturalized into Portugal’s islands in the mid-North Atlantic Ocean.

 

Tenerife symbols: Pico del Tiede (background) and Roque Cinchado (foreground)

Parque Nacional del Teide, Tenerife
Parque Nacional del Teide, Tenerife

 

Despite occurrence elsewhere, the tree can be considered one of three beloved icons of Tenerife's natural beauty. Along with the tree, the Teide volcano is deemed a hallmark, natural symbol that draws tourists to Tenerife. Along with Gran Canaria Island, Tenerife also provides shelter to another Tenerife icon, Blue Chaffinches (Fringilla teydea).

 

Blue Chaffinches (Fringilla teydea), passerine finches, are endemic to outer Canary Islands of Gran Canaria and Tenerife.
male blue chaffinch
male blue chaffinch

 

Bird and tree are linked only by their occurrence on Tenerife. Neither one depends upon the other for survival. Specifically, Blue Chaffinches look to Canary Island Pines (Pinus canariensis) for food and shelter. They prefer to build nests in Canary Island Pine tree forks and to feed upon the tree's seeds.

 

Canary Island pine (Pinus canariensis); pine species endemic to outer Canary Islands (Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Hierro and La Palma)

Canary Island pine (Pinus canariensis) forest, Caldera de Taburiente, La Palma, Canary Islands
Canary Island pine (Pinus canariensis) forest, Caldera de Taburiente, La Palma, Canary Islands

 

Tenerife Dragon Trees likewise do not look to Blue Chaffinches for natural propagation. According to  author Lance Chilton, tradition maintains that germination requires jump-starting by passing the tree’s seeds through the digestive tracts of now-extinct, large, “flightless, dodolike” pigeons (Chilton, “Dragon trees on La Palma, Canary Islands”). But Lance reports no record of such birds anywhere in Macaronesia. He further reveals that seeds germinate successfully independent of avian or human interventions.

 

A sparse, stark, rocket-style profile may characterize a Dracaena draco that is young or one that simply grows straight up, without flowering or forking.

dragon tree in courtyard of traditional 17th century house, now Casa Museo León y Castillo, Arucas, northern Gran Canaria
dragon tree in courtyard of traditional 17th century house, now Casa Museo León y Castillo, Arucas, northern Gran Canaria

Tenerife Dragon Tree: Externals

 

The shape of the Tenerife Dragon Tree calls to mind an opened umbrella. Its trunk climbs slowly but surely 4 feet (1.22 meters) upwards for about ten years. The tree then flowers and forks. The flowering and forking process is repeated every 15 years thereafter.

 

forking trunk of Tenerife dragon tree
forking trunk of Tenerife dragon tree

"This tree is said to have been revered by the Guanches as the ash of Ephesus was by the Greeks" (A. von Humboldt in W. Macgillivray, page 41)

Described In June 1799 by Prussian explorer Alexander von Humboldt as 60 feet high with a circumference of 48 feet, the tree lost one-third of its crown in 1819 tempest and finally was felled by c.1867 storm (Élie Metchnikoff, 1908, pp. 96-98).
La Orotava dragon tree in Mr Franqui's garden; William MacGillivray, Travels and Researches (1833), page 42
La Orotava dragon tree in Mr Franqui's garden; William MacGillivray, Travels and Researches (1833), page 42

 

 

But sometimes the tree never flowers or forks. It just grows straight up. It thereby produces a stark, sparse, rocket-type profile.

 

With or without flowering and forking, the tree generally attains a mature height of 39.37 to 49.21 feet (12 to 15 meters). The famous Orotava specimen nevertheless matured to a height of 68.89 to 75.46 feet (21 to 23 meters). It finally was felled in a storm in 1867-1868 after possibly surviving 6,000 years.

 

 

1852 illustration of young dragon's blood tree
C. Lemaire, Le jardin fleuriste, vol. 2 (1852), Planche 124
C. Lemaire, Le jardin fleuriste, vol....

Dragoniers à différents âges (Dracaena draco Dragon Tree at Different Ages), Casa de Franchy, La Orotava, northern Tenerife; British artist J.J. Williams, illustrator; Félix Achille Saint-Aulaire (1801-1889), lithographer

great Orotava Dragon Tree 1790 (left, with ladder): great Orotava Dragon Tree 1830 (55 feet [16.7 mtrs] circumference at ground level); July 21, 1819, storm damage commemorative plaque (right)
P. Barker Webb and S. Berthelot, Histoire naturelle des Iles Canaries Atlas (1838), Facies Plate 8, page 40
P. Barker Webb and S. Berthelot, Histoire naturelle des Iles Canaries Atlas (1838), Facies Plate 8, page 40

 

Age only can be estimated for Tenerife Dragon Trees. It cannot be determined by annual rings since the tree is not a tree, but a woody member of the asparagus family. It instead may be guesstimated by the number of branching points between the trunk and the canopy. Each  branching point represents 10 to 15 years. The 1,000-year-old Drago Milenario ("Millennial Dragon") of Icod de los Vinos therefore would have an actual age of about 700 years.

 

Millenial Dragon Tree (Drago Milenario)

Icod de los Vinos, Tenerife
Icod de los Vinos, Tenerife

The Tenerife Dragon Tree attains its maximum age by surviving the three stages in its above-ground growth. The first stage begins with growing the trunk. It closes 10 to 15 years later with terminal buds flowering at the trunk's top.

The second stage commences a succession of 10 to 15-year intervals whose beginning involves flowering, fruiting and seeding. The flower is a branching, sweet-smelling green or pink-white cluster. The fruit is a coral, orange-brown or orange-red, sweettasting berry slightly smaller than a cherry. The white seed may germinate within 28 days.

The third stage signals the canopy's formation from green, overlapping, prickly leaves.

 

infructescence (fruiting stage) of flowering Tenerife dragon tree

Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife
Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife

Tenerife Dragon Tree: Care

 

The Tenerife Dragon Tree naturally belongs in a subtropical climate. In its native environment, it expects the conditions that prevail on islands located between the world's temperate and the tropical climate zones. It therefore is adept at  handling:

  • High levels of heat and light;
  • Low levels of moisture, nutrients and rainfall;
  • Natural dispersion of seeds by wildlife and wind;
  • Regular drainage of alkaline, gravelly, rocky soils that may be as high in calcium as they are low in nitrogen.

But cultivators, gardeners, and plant collectors and enthusiasts do not need to feel discouraged or dispirited if they do not live on islands or within subtropical climate zones. The Tenerife Dragon Tree in fact is an adaptable survivor as a native plant in its natural environment and as an introduced plant outside its native range. Its growing needs indeed will be met with its owner's careful attention to and cautious provision of:

  • Above-freezing temperatures;
  • Complete, time-release, watersoluble fertilizer applications 1 to 2 times yearly, in fall and in spring;
  • 4 to 6 hours of daily sunlight;
  • Non-waterlogging, well-drained soil;
  • Supplemental watering at the rate of about 1 inch (2.54 centimeter) 1 to 2 times monthly.

Whether native or naturalized, wild or cultivated, the Tenerife Dragon Tree can weather many environmental stresses. It especially rises to the challenges of alkaline, arid, bright, and/or nutrient-poor environments. But it will find its survival compromised at home and abroad when confronted with:

  • Competition over intensive land use from agroindustry and construction;
  • Prolonged experiences with the nibbling of its seeds by small mammals and of its seedlings by such grazing mammals as goats and rabbits;
  • Protracted exposure to heavy flooding, rainfall, surface run-off, and/or waterlogging;
  • Proximity to controlled burns and wildfires.

Otherwise, Tenerife Dragon Trees will be expected to outlive their owners by hundreds of years.

 

Dracaena draco bark

Botanischer Garten Bochum, northwest Germany
Botanischer Garten Bochum, northwest ...

skin of Dracaena draco trunk

Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005, 16:58
Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005, 16:58

Tenerife Dragon Tree: Uses

 

Ancient and modern uses generally can be characterized as unchanging for the Tenerife Dragon Tree. Since the fifteenth century, the tree contributes to three key societal concerns. Specifically, its role is defined as;

  • Aesthetic;
  • Medicinal;
  • Ritualistic.

In all regards, the tree's role is carried out through its resin. The resin is produced from wounding the bark and/or leaves. It runs a red color that is likened to that of the dragon blood spilled in the Garden of the Hesperides.

According to ancient Greek beliefs, the 100-headed dragon named Ladon guarded the garden's entrance. The heroic Hercules had to retrieve three golden apples from the garden as the eleventh of twelve tasks that he was charged to accomplish. He realized his quest, but was forced to kill Ladon in the process. From Ladon's blood sprouted the world's dragon trees.

 

Greek mythology's fearsome dragon Ladon is depicted on gate of Barcelona's Finca Güell, built 1884-1887, by Catalan architect extraordinaire Antoni Gaudí (June 25, 1852–June 10, 1926).

Ladon, from whose blood sprouted the world's dragon trees; Saturday, September 13, 2008, 18:52
Ladon, from whose blood sprouted the world's dragon trees; Saturday, September 13, 2008, 18:52

 

The aesthetics of attractive, bright,  garnet red color can be appreciated. Since ancient times, the resin cooperates as a stain and varnish for furniture and objects made of wood. For example, the resin's red colorant 7,4-dihydroxy-5-methoxy-flavylium (dracoflavylium) produces the incomparable look of the Stradivarius violin. For another example, the resin also serves to color:

  • Paste;
  • Plaster;
  • Textiles;
  • Toothpaste. 

The resin's medicinal use arose from its color and its supposed origins. Traditional medical practitioners indeed linked the resin's color to that of the blood that was spilled in the tree's creation. They therefore used the resin to treat such problems with blood flow as:

  • Chest pains;
  • Internal bleeding, irregularity or trauma;
  • Wounds.

The resin came to be used ritualistically for:

  • Embalming;
  • Incense.

It dried into an attractive garnet red powder. The powder's burning was dramatically fragrant.

In modern times, two other uses can be added. The resin is used in photoengraving. The tree also serves as a drought-tolerant ornamental tree in sustainable landscapes.

 

At bases of dead leaves of Dracaena draco is "dragon's blood," red resin, reputedly used on Stradivarius violins.

Ganna Walska Lotusland botanical garden, Cold Spring Road, Montecito, Santa Barbara County, California Central Coast
Ganna Walska Lotusland botanical garden, Cold Spring Road, Montecito, Santa Barbara County, California Central Coast

Conclusion: A Woody Plant of Ancient Lineage Becomes Canary Islands' Icon

 

Of all its attributes, aesthetic, commercial, and medicinal, Tenerife dragon's tree most cherished would seem to be the inspirational aesthetics of its enduring presence in the oceanic landscape. Prehistorically Tenerife's dragon trees were revered by the resplendent island's aboriginal Berber inhabitants, the Guanches (Guan, "person" + Chinet, native name for Tenerife), whose migration from North Africa is dated to around 1000 B.C.E. or even earlier. Myth, prehistory, history, and future are all represented in this long-lived, ubiquitous woody plant with its ancient lineage. In a paradise thriving with an exciting profusion of diverse, unique fauna and flora, Dracaena draco emerges as a treasured icon, not only of Tenerife, but of the entire archipelago.

 

formerly a source of admiration and awe, now a hallowed memory: La Orotava dragon tree as it was, flourishing before storm of 1819, persevering for five decades afterward, then succumbing ca. 1867-1868

illustration after drawing by Sabin Berthelot (April 4, 1794-November 10, 1880)
C. Lemaire, Le Jardin Fleuriste (1852), Planche 124
C. Lemaire, Le Jardin Fleuriste (1852), Planche 124

Acknowledgment

 

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

 

Image Credits

 

Tenerife dragon tree in its native Canary Islands' landscape
Puntagorda, La Palma, northwestern Canary Islands; Saturday, September 3, 2005, 20:55: Zyance, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Drago_z02.jpg

Map of Canary Islands shows eight main islands and three of the archipelago's small islands or islets.
Main islands increased to eight with promotion of La Graciosa ("Graceful") from islet to island in 2018.
Dracaena draco is associated with Tenerife (center), the archipelago's largest island.: Oona Räisänen (Mysid), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_the_Canary_Islands.svg

Canary Island dog (Presa Canario); Friday, June 4, 2004, 16:58: Steffen H. Wohnort (Caronna), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dogo_Canario_bearb.jpg

Tenerife dragon trees, Santa Cruz de Tenerife harbor; Thursday, January 2, 2003, 12:10: Foxbasealpha at English Wikipedia, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SantaCruzHarbour.jpg

Tenerife symbols: Pico del Tiede (background) and Roque Cinchado (foreground)
Parque Nacional del Teide, Tenerife: Christian Abend, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Teide2007.jpg

Blue Chaffinches (Fringilla teydea), passerine finches, are endemic to outer Canary Islands of Gran Canaria and Tenerife.
male blue chaffinch: Bartkauz, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Teidefink.jpg

female blue chaffinch: bartkauz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Teidefinkweibchen.JPG

Canary Island pine (Pinus canariensis); pine species endemic to outer Canary Islands (Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Hierro and La Palma)
Canary Island pine (Pinus canariensis) forest, Caldera de Taburiente, La Palma, Canary Islands: JuVlai, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pinus_canariensis_forest_Caldera_de_Taburiente_4.jpg

A sparse, stark, rocket-style profile may characterize a Dracaena draco that is young or one that simply grows straight up, without flowering or forking.
dragon tree in courtyard of traditional 17th century house, now Casa Museo León y Castillo, Arucas, northern Gran Canaria: Raycojimenezg, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Casa_Museo_León_y_Castillo_Patio.jpg

forking trunk of Tenerife dragon tree: Zyance, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Drago_z05.jpg

"This tree is said to have been revered by the Guanches as the ash of Ephesus was by the Greeks" (A. von Humboldt in W. Macgillivray, p. 41)
Described In June 1799 by Prussian explorer Alexander von Humboldt as 60 feet high with a circumference of 48 feet, the tree lost one-third of its crown in 1819 tempest and finally was felled by c.1867 storm (Élie Metchnikoff, 1908, pages 96-98).
La Orotava dragon tree in Mr Franqui's garden; William MacGillivray, Travels and Researches (1833), page 42: Not in copyright, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/19195362

1852 illustration of young dragon's blood tree
C. Lemaire, Le jardin fleuriste, vol. 2 (1852), Planche 124: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/59117904

Dragoniers à différents âges (Dracaena draco Dragon Tree at Different Ages), Casa de Franchy, La Orotava, northern Tenerife; British artist J.J. Williams, illustrator; Félix Achille Saint-Aulaire (1801-1889), lithographer
great Orotava Dragon Tree 1790 (left, with ladder): great Orotava Dragon Tree 1830 (55 feet [16.7 mtrs] circumference at ground level); July 21, 1819, storm damage commemorative plaque (right)
P. Barker Webb and S. Berthelot, Histoire naturelle des Iles Canaries Atlas (1838), Facies Plate 8, page 40: "All ECHO content shall be made freely available on the Internet in the most technically adequate and feasible way possible," via ECHO-Max Planck Institute for the History of Science @ https://echo.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/ECHOdocuView?url=/permanent/humboldt/webb_histo_fr_01_1838/index.meta&pn=40&ww=0.3644&wh=0.3644&wy=0.6213; Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Berthelot_drago_franchy.jpg

Millenial Dragon Tree (Drago Milenario)
Icod de los Vinos, Tenerife: Miguel303xm, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Drago-icod.jpg

infructescence (fruiting stage) of flowering Tenerife dragon tree
Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife; Sunday, March 27, 2011, 12:49: Quartl, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:Dracaena_draco_qtl1.jpg

Dracaena draco bark
Botanischer Garten Bochum, northwest Germany: Frank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dracaena_draco_1_ies.jpg

skin of Dracaena draco trunk
Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005, 16:58: Zyance, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Drago_z07.jpg

Greek mythology's fearsome dragon Ladon is depicted on gate of Barcelona's Finca Güell, built 1884-1887, by Catalan architect extraordinaire Antoni Gaudí (June 25, 1852–June 10, 1926).
Ladon, from whose blood sprouted the world's dragon trees; Saturday, September 13, 2008, 18:52: SBA73, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pavellons_de_la_Finca_Güell_(Barcelona)_-_1.jpg; SBA73, CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/7455207@N05/3210064288/in/pool-wikilovesmonumentscat

At bases of dead leaves of Dracaena draco is "dragon's blood," red resin, reputedly used on Stradivarius violins.
Ganna Walska Lotusland botanical garden, Cold Spring Road, Montecito, Santa Barbara County, California Central Coast: Sharktopus, CC-BY-SA-3.0, via Wikmedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DracaenaDracoLeaves.jpg

formerly a source of admiration and awe, now a hallowed memory: La Orotava dragon tree as it was, flourishing before storm of 1819, persevering for five decades afterward, then succumbing ca. 1867-1868
illustration after drawing by Sabin Berthelot (April 4, 1794 - November 10, 1880)
C. Lemaire, Le Jardin Fleuriste (1852), Planche 124: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dracaena_draco_Dragonnier_avant_1819.jpg

importance and appreciation of Dracaena draco: La Orotava's coat of arms on stained glass window in hall of City of La Orotava
Design of La Orotava's coat of arms recognizes the city as location of mythological Garden of Hesperides, site of Eleventh Labor of Hercules.
window in City Hall (el Ayuntamiento), La Orotava, northern coast of Tenerife; Sunday, June 18, 2006, 00:59: Christian Köppchen (Koppchen), CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Orotava_Ayuntamiento_04.jpg

Three Tenerife natives
Multiply-forked, leafy crowned Canary Islands dragon tree (Dracaeno draco) thrives to right (right background) of Canary Island date palm (Phoenix canariensis; mid-foreground), as Canary Island pine (Pinus canariensis) shoots upward (left background).
Cueva de Belmaco, eastern La Palma, northwestern Canary Islands; Wednesday, April 12, 2006, 12:41:51: Jose Mesa (Mataparda), CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/liferfe/135066953/

 

importance and appreciation of Dracaena draco: La Orotava's coat of arms on stained glass window in hall of City of La Orotava

Design of La Orotava's coat of arms recognizes the city as location of mythological Garden of Hesperides, site of Eleventh Labor of Hercules.
window in City Hall (el Ayuntamiento), La Orotava, northern coast of Tenerife; Sunday, June 18, 2006, 00:59
window in City Hall (el Ayuntamiento), La Orotava, northern coast of Tenerife; Sunday, June 18, 2006, 00:59

Sources Consulted

 

Barker-Webb, Phillip, and Sabine Berthelot. "Facies. -- Pl. 8 (Dracaena Draco. Linn.)." Pages 176-178. Histoire Naturelle des Ile Canaries. Tome troisième, première partie. Contenant la Géographie Botanique. Paris [France]: Béthune, MDCCCXL {1940].

  • Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library at: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/33478247

Barker-Webb, Phillip, and Sabine Berthelot. Histoire Naturelle des Iles Canaries. Tomes I - III. Paris: Béthune, éditeur, 1836-1850.

  • Available via HathiTrust at: http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009547565

Barker-Webb, Phillip, and Sabine Berthelot. Histoire Naturelle des Ile Canaries. Atlas. Paris: Béthune, éditeur, MDCCCXXXVIII (1838).

  • Available via ECHO- Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte at: https://echo.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/ECHOdocuView?url=/permanent/humboldt/webb_histo_fr_01_1838/index.meta&pn=1
  • Available via Fundación Canaria Orotava de Historia de la Ciencia (FUNDORO) at: http://fundacionorotava.es/portal/databases/digitisations/55/

Chilton, Lance. "Dragon trees on La Palma, Canary Islands." Marengo. www.marengowalks.com.

  • Available at: http://www.marengowalks.com/lpdraco.html

Gill, Robin. Tenerife, Canary Islands. London, England: The Geologists'  Association Guide no. 49, 1994.

Kämmer, Franco. Klima und Vegetation auf Tenerife, besonders im Hinblick auf den Nebelniederschlag. Göttingen: E. Goeltze, 1974.

Lemaire, Charles, ed. Le Jardin fleuriste: journal général des progrés et des intérets horticoles et botaniques. Deuxième Volume. Gand: F. et E. Gyselynck, 1852.

  • Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library at: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/59117869
  • Available via HathiTrust at: http://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044106335771
  • Available via Internet Archive at: https://archive.org/details/jardinfleuristej2185unse/

MacGillivray, William. The Travels and Researches of Alexander von Humboldt; Being a Condensed Narrative of His Journeys in the Equinoctial Regions of America, and in Asiatic Russia: --- Together with Analyses of His More Important Observations. New York: J. & J. Harper, 1833.

  • Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library at:  http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/63302

Metchnikoff, Élie. The Prolongation of Life: Optimistic Studies. New York & London: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1908.

  • Available via Internet Archive at:  http://archive.org/details/prolongationofli00metciala

Reclus, Élisée Reclus. Africa and its Inhabitants. Vol II. London: Virtue and Company, 1899.

  • Available via Internet Archive at: http://archive.org/details/africaitsinhabit02recl

 

Three Tenerife natives

Multiply-forked, leafy crowned Canary Islands dragon tree (Dracaeno draco) thrives to right (right background) of Canary Island date palm (Phoenix canariensis; mid-foreground), as Canary Island pine (Pinus canariensis) shoots upward (left background).
Cueva de Belmaco, eastern La Palma, northwestern Canary Islands; Wednesday, April 12, 2006, 12:41:51
Cueva de Belmaco, eastern La Palma, northwestern Canary Islands; Wednesday, April 12, 2006, 12:41:51
the end which is also the beginning
the end which is also the beginning

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Tenerife dragon tree in books

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DerdriuMarriner, All Rights Reserved
DerdriuMarriner, All Rights Reserved
Updated: 07/10/2025, DerdriuMarriner
 
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DerdriuMarriner on 03/01/2025

The comment boxes Dec. 3 and 14, 2024, advise us of world-garden models.

It can be so educational, so memory-retentive to connect garden displays and models with drinkable, edible takeaways.

The comment box immediately below on Dec. 14, 2024, describes such takeaways as posters, signs and t-shirts for a hypothetical world garden where Tenerife plants dazzle.

So what about drinkable, edible takeaways?

Tenerife has bottle brush (Callistemon), eucalyptus, spider-flower (Grevillea) and tea-tree (Leptospermum).

Bottle-brush nectar makes a sweet drink even as eucalyptus manifests a tasty fruit and leaf salad munchably marvelous matched with eucalyptus nectar as dressing and drink and as vanilla ice cream.

Spider flower (Grevillea) nourishes us with a nice flower and nutty-seed salad.

Tea tree (Leptospermum) occasions a flower, fruit and leaf salad with nectar dressing and drink.

DerdriuMarriner on 12/14/2024

The computer crashed before I continued to another component of my observation and question in the comment box immediately below.

The 13th in-text image particularly inspires me to a world-garden iteration of Tenerife dragon trees.

Woody plants sometimes look recognizable, sometimes unrecognizable when immature to how they look when mature and vice versa. So that image musters a game plan for matching and mixing different ages into Canary-Island displays in a world garden.

The 20th in-text image offers such a progression, such an evolution of dragon-tree bark, foliage, fruits and habit as to occasion their occurring on posters, signs and takeaways such as t-shirts in the hypothetical world garden, wouldn't one imagine?

DerdriuMarriner on 12/03/2024

Cultivated, semi-cultivated, semi-wild, wild places are such uplifting ways to acquaint oneself with our Blue Marble!

Isn't it inspirational to imagine world gardens that country-, island-iconic plants inhabit to inspire human earthly inhabitants?

What plants might Canary Islanders muster? Most likely, date palms and dragon trees and pines, correct? And what else?

DerdriuMarriner on 10/31/2024

The third paragraph to the first subheading, Tenerife, advises us that "The Canary Islands are not so called because of populations of canary birds. The name instead derives from the derogatory (and untrue) Latin word canaria for the islands' reputedly aggressive (but actually lovably well-behaved) dogs. The reputation stems from the report of an expedition sent by Juba II (52/50 B.C.-A.D. 23), who ruled as:
King of Numidia (in modern Algeria and western Turnisia);
Husband of Cleopatra Selene II (December 25, 40 B.C.-5 or 6 B.C.);
Son-in-law of Roman General Mark Antony (January 14, 83 B.C.-August 1, 30 B.C.) and Egyptian Pharaoh Cleopatra VII Philopator (69 B.C.-August 12, 30 B.C.).
The name Tenerife honors the island's snow-covered volcano, Mount Tiede (Pico del Teide). The native word tene means "mountain." The native word ife means "white."

Source authorities can be considered critical in conveying correct or non-correct cultural information.

For example, how do we evaluate the dog-related details from a ruler whose dominion over the southwest Mediterranean derived from ancient Egypt and Greece desiring more domains under their domination?

DerdriuMarriner on 04/10/2017

Luz, Congratulations on being from such a beautiful archipelago! I've altered the sentence to make sure that nobody thinks so uncharitably about the noble Dogo Canario since that never was my intention.
I take it with a grain of salt when one culture comes up with an insulting observation about another, and definitely in regard to wildlife since I ask myself, if the behavior is true how were the animals being disdained and mistreated by these non-native peoples? For example, in a different direction, on the other side of the pond, Quechua actually is Runa Simi (language of the people), but enemies of the Inca (who were not native speakers of Quechua) and Spanish-speaking settlers gave the language that name -- and unfortunately, it stuck -- since it comes from the word for "to steal." So unkind!

Luz on 04/05/2017

"The name instead derives from the Latin word canaria for the islands' reputedly aggressive dogs", isn't true at all, because the Dogo Canario dog is very quiet and noble because he's a sheep guardian dog and if he was aggressive he would attack the sheep. He looks like very strong but has an excellent character. I'm from Canarias. Thanks and regards!!

DerdriuMarriner on 10/22/2013

WriterArtist, You probably can grow the Tenerife dragon tree in one of your greenhouses. Cuttings and seeds are easily available through Internet-based ordering processes.
Thank you for visiting and commenting.

WriterArtist on 10/22/2013

Terrific article - loved the facts and the details on the dragon tree. The pictures are very entertaining.

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