Dragon blood tree fruits are small berries containing one to three seeds. Five months after pollination, ripe fruit can be seen on the tree. Dragon blood tree fruit is eaten by birds, which helps spread seeds in the wild.
Dragon blood tree is an evergreen tree that can be found on the Socotra archipelago but is threatened by over-exploitation by humans, habitat fragmentation, and climate changes.
Dragon blood trees are unique trees native to Socotra, an archipelago in Yemen
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Dragon Blood Tree Fruit Facts for Kids
- These trees look like giant mushrooms because of their crowns.
- They reach an average height of 32 feet.
- It is the only Dracaena species that forms dense woodlands.
- There are small, fragrant white or green flowers on this tree with long, thin, and stiff leaves.
- The Dragon Blood Tree blooms in February.
- It produces small berries as fruits.
- Also known as the Dracaena cinnabari or the Socotra dragon tree
- Fruits mature in 5 to 6 months and contain one to three seeds.
Biology
The dragon’s blood tree has small clusters of fragrant, white, or green flowers that appear in March, and the ripening fruits take five months to mature completely.
This tree’s large crown provides shade and reduces evaporation, which allows the tree to grow close together.
Conservation
The Dragon’s Blood Tree is highly widespread in the Socotra archipelago, and the population is shrinking due to poor regeneration, logging, overgrazing, and feeding the flowers and fruits of the dragon’s blood tree to livestock.
The Dragon’s Blood Tree is highly widespread in the Socotra archipelago, and the population is shrinking due to poor regeneration, logging, overgrazing, and feeding the flowers and fruits of the dragon’s blood tree to livestock.
Management
The dragon’s blood tree is an important species for commodities and conservation efforts on Socotra. To conserve it, several measures are needed, including road construction, limiting grazing, fencing against livestock, and involving local communities in planting seedlings.
How is the Dragon Blood Tree used by locals?
The locals of Socotra use dragon’s blood resin for wound healing, lowering fever, and treating dysentery and diarrhea.
Dragon’s blood was used in the 18th century to varnish violins and toothpaste and in a 16th-century text, but there is no evidence that the text is accurate.
Dragon’s blood resin is used by the locals of Socotra as a cure-all. In general, the Greeks, Romans, and Arabs used it as a coagulant, as a cure for diarrhea, for dysentery diseases, as a fever reducer. Also, it is taken for stomach, intestines, and mouth ulcers.
The Fruit
It takes five months for the fruit to fully mature. Fruits change from green to black to orange-red when they’re ripe. They contain between one and three seeds. Birds and other animals eat and disperse the berries.
More Fun Facts
Its name comes from the red resin that is exuded by the bark after being wound.
It can live up to 650 years and reaches heights of around 10 to 12 meters (33 to 39 feet).
The tree grows slowly, approximately one meter every ten years.
The dragon blood tree is a succulent that is drought-tolerant and very hardy. They like warm temperatures and subtropical climates.
Usually found between 300 and 1,500 meters (980 and 4,920 feet).
