Dracaena draco (Dragon Tree)

Slow-growing, award-winning Dracaena draco (Dragon Tree) is an evergreen tree with attractive hefty limbs and stiff but flexible leaves. Sparsely branched, the thick, swollen, cylindrical trunk, branches into stout, upright arms with terminal rosettes of sword-shaped, blue-green leaves to 2 ft. in length (60 cm). Initially smooth and gray, the bark becomes scaly with horizontal, red stripes, a reminder that this tree bleeds crimson sap when the bark is cut or bruised. Likened to the blood of dragons, (Dracaena means dragon in ancient Greek), this sap is used as a varnish for violins and other fine wood. In early summer appear panicles of greenish-white flowers on mature plants. They are followed by orange berries. This very ornamental tree does not begin to branch until it has flowered for the first time, usually after a couple of decades of growth.