I had to write about this magnificent tree after my conversation with a friend newly acquainted to me. We were talking about books; I told him I was reading Wade Davis’ autobiography, The Serpent and the Rainbow, and explained to him that it was about Professor Davis’ journey as an ethno-botanist seeking to find the supposed plant responsible for inducing the process of turning people into “zombis”. With this he became flustered and spouted things about Wicca and witchcraft, which seems to be a common response to me whenever I talk about the book. Anyways, he told me his mom was into “botany,” by which explanation he gave me, I think he meant something more along the lines of Wicca, and told me she even had a bottle of actual dragon’s blood.
With this I couldn’t help but smile, I explained to him that dragon’s blood wasn’t actually blood from a dragon but an ink or resin extracted most commonly from plants of the Dracaena family. He responded with a simple “Oh.”
The spectacular speciman captured in the photo above is Dracaena Draco. It is indigenous to the Canary Islands and is rare in natural occurrence, but it’s commonly cultivated in gardens for aesthetic purposes. Dracaena is the Roman spelling for the ancient Greek word for female dragon, Draco just being the Latin word for dragon. On average, this tree grows to about 20 feet and it’s branches naturally ascend to form a unique mushroom shape, uncommon to most palms.
Dragon’s blood can be made of a large array of plants, but blood made from Dracaena Draco is true dragon’s blood. It is made from the plant’s dark red sap, most likely thinned out with other substances to prevent it from hardening and so it can be used as an ink or incense. Dragon’s blood was typically used in protection spells in association with the god of war, Ares or Mars.
Scientific name: Dracaena Draco
Common names: Dragon Tree
http://www.floridata.com/ref/D/drac_dra.cfm
http://www.eol.org/pages/1087629
This tree played a huge role in nudging me to embrace my botanical interests. Believe it or not, I found out about it not by reading science articles, no not by visiting some exotic garden, but— silly as it is— through research I was compelled to do for my beloved rogue poisoner character, which I made for a Dungeons and Dragons sessions with my wonderfully geektastical friends.
Fueled by the dedication of my friends and the passion they put into making and playing their characters, I painstakingly made a chart of poisonous plants categorized by region, rarity, effects, and applications so whichever unfortunate DM would have to put up with my constant search checks would not have to come up with or make up a plant on the top of his/her head along with all the tedious procedures on how to produce a poison from it. [Unfortunately, things didn’t play out the way I would have liked: we were often in places where plants were almost non-existant] Anyhow, upon reading up on these plants, I stumbled upon this deviously deadly tree and fell in love…
This is the Manchineel Tree, a plant that will cause harm upon contact. Even being hit with a raindrop rolling off one of its’ leaves has the potential to cause severe skin irritation. Eating its’ fruit- which is deceivingly sweet smelling, is absolutely out of the question, one bite will cause swelling and inflammation in one’s throat within half an hour. Smoke from burning this tree can cause temporary blindness, meaning of course that inhaling it most likely isn’t good for you either. This tree is dangerous in every way possible, and to almost everything possible [Only one animal is known to be able to tolerate the ingestion of its’ fruit]. It is very similar in appearance to an apple tree, but with smaller yellowish-green fruits. [In my opinion, based on most pictures I see of it, its’ leaves are also a deeper green with a waxier texture than a normal apple tree]. Now, with all the things I’ve written above, I don’t believe I need to tell you NOT TO TOUCH this tree if you ever come across it, but I will anyways, because every other article I’ve read about it does.
Once again, DO NOT TOUCH this tree.
Scientific name: Hippomane Mancinella
Common names: Death apple tree, Manchineel Tree, Beach apple tree
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2346400
http://www.rk19-bielefeld-mitte.de/survival/FM/c.htm
[google imagine search “Manchineel Tree” to see the various signs warning you of Hippomane Mancinella’s dangers.]
