Dragon Tree (Dracaena draco) packet of 10 seeds

Family: Asparagus (Asparagaceae)

Hardy to Zones 8 to 12, otherwise grown as a potted plant and brought in for the winter

Tree-like monocot to 25 feet tall and equally as broad. Native to the Canary Islands, Cape Verde and Morocco.  Widely cultivated as a curio worthy of the finest botanical gardens.  Anyone in the Western US that wants to see a really sweet stand of these comely trees, with their solid trunks and palm-like foliage, can find them at San Diego Botanic Garden in Encinitas, California.  Surely one of the most unusual trees on earth, they appear to be–not from earth.  The flowers are white and deeply perfumed.  Dragon tree is one of the several sources for the aromatic, garnet-red resin known as “Dragon’s Blood.”  Traditional usage: wound dressing, diarrhea, ulcerations and eczema.  The plant prefers mesic to dry conditions, well-drained soil, and sun to part shade.  Scarify the large, roundish seeds by rubbing on medium grit sandpaper and plant 1/2 to 1 inch deep in warm Cactus mix.  Tamp well and keep evenly moist but not too wet. Best to sow in a greenhouse or under grow lights.  Planting seeds such as this in a bed in the summer garden would be a bit absurd, I think.  Plant at least 3 seeds per pot.  Bottom heat is helpful.   Germ takes 30 to 90 days, and this seed demonstrates ongoing germ.  Keep plants in potted culture (the photo is of one of my year-old individuals) or if environment permits, plant outdoors at a spacing of at least 30 feet apart.

10 seeds/pkt, Open Pollinated, Untreated, NO GMO’s