El Drago, also known as Drago Milenario and Drago de Icod de los Vinos, is the oldest and largest living specimen of ''

Dracaena draco ''Dracaena draco'', the Canary Islands dragon tree or drago, is a subtropical tree in the genus '' Dracaena'', native to the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Madeira, western Morocco, and is thought to be introduced in the Azores. Its closest living ...

'', or dragon tree, in Parque del Drago,

Icod de los Vinos Icod de los Vinos is a municipality in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife on the island of Tenerife, in the Canary Islands (Spain), located in the northwestern part of the island. Inhabitants of Icod are known in Spanish as ''"icodenses"''. ...

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

, Spain. It is said to be a thousand years old, although the age is disputed. It is one of the symbols of Tenerife, and was declared a national monument in 1917.

Description

It is the largest and oldest living specimen of ''

'' (common name dragon tree). It is in Parque del Drago, Icod de los Vinos in Tenerife. It is around tall, with a circumference around . It has over 300 main branches. The trunk contains a cavity accessible by a door, with a fan installed to provide ventilation. It is estimated to weigh around . When it flowered in 1995, it had around 1,800 flowering branches, with its weight increasing by during the fruiting season. It is one of the symbols of Tenerife. It was depicted on the 1,000 peseta note. It is part of the coat of arms for the Icod de los Vinos municipality and appears in local legends. While the Parque del Drago which contains the tree charges for entry, it is visible for free from the nearby town square.

History

The specimen's age is disputed. It is thought to be around 800–1,000 years old.

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, ...

estimated a similar tree on the island (that fell in a storm in 1867) to be several thousand years old, and a 1907 estimate by professors and students of the Polytechnic School of Zurich put it at 2,500 years old, but an upper limit of 350 years was placed on it in 1975 by Mägdefrau, while other studies suggest that it is around 1,000 years old. It was declared a national monument in 1917. In the 1930s, part of the base was closed with stones and cement. In 1985 it was studied by arboriculturist Kenneth Alien, who reopened the entrance and installed a large fan inside the trunk cavity to aid air circulation and prevent fungal growth. In 1993 the road that passed within a few metres of the tree was rerouted. Since 2002 it has been considered for submission to

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

as a World Heritage Site candidate.

References

External links

*{{Commons and category-inline Dracaena (plant) Tourist attractions in Tenerife Individual trees in Spain Flora of Tenerife

Description

History

See also

References

External links