Talk:Dracaena cinnabari

Mention in a National Geographic story
The article says:
 * The unusual shape of the dragon's blood tree is an adaptation for survival in arid conditions with low amounts of soil, such as in mountaintops. The large, packed crown provides shade and reduces evaporation. This shade also aids in the survival of seedlings growing beneath the adult tree, explaining why the trees tend to grow closer together.

I found that interesting, because I was reading a recent National Geographic (June 2012) article on Socotra which reports:
 * All around us dragon's blood trees lifted their branches skyward, looking, as many have remarked, like blown-out umbrellas. Even in a forest of dragon's blood, the individual trees keep their distance, like shy people at a party. Hundreds and hundreds of dragon's blood trees stretched out in all directions, but Banfield pointed out a troubling fact: Almost no young trees sprouted from the rocks beneath the mature ones.

It does go on to point out that the upturned branches of the tree edxist to gather moisture from mist in the air, and that climate change may be responsible for the lack of reproduction of the plant.

Anyways, obviously the casual observations of a NG reporter don't count for much, but maybe they line "the trees tend to grow closer together" should be subject to further examination based on that. For now, I'm just adding a "citation needed" tag to the biology section. The2crowrox (talk) 16:46, 7 June 2012 (UTC)
 * On second thought it looks like the "Threats" and "Conservation" sections could use additional citations as well, but I don't want to clutter up the article.The2crowrox (talk) 16:59, 7 June 2012 (UTC)
 * I've got a load of references that could be used. I can send you a .zip of them if you like. I was going to write an article ages ago, but then someone beat me to it before I had a chance. Email me if you're interested. (And btw, a NG reporter is better than no source) SmartSE (talk) 17:51, 7 June 2012 (UTC)

Tree Sap Photograph
I'm wondering why there isn't a picture here that shows the tree "bleeding" its red sap, since that is its most distinctive physical trait - as evidenced by the common name for the tree and by the fact that the sap is mentioned in the first couple lines of this very article. Surely there is a public domain photo that we can use to show what the sap looks like as it is seeping from the tree trunk. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.100.197.179 (talk) 07:26, 23 January 2014 (UTC)

Ditto. I'd also like to know who named it dragon's blood and when. In Arrian and Pliny it's called Indian Cinnabar (vegetable as opposed to mineral cinnabar) Fuficius Fango (talk) 17:49, 2 October 2019 (UTC)

Identify of image queried
An IP editor left a note in the text saying that File:Dracaena_cinnabari_-_Koko_Crater_Botanical_Garden_-_IMG_2295.JPG is not this species. Peter coxhead (talk) 08:35, 15 April 2015 (UTC)


 * It certainly doesn't look the same and per WP:V it is better to remove it if there is any doubt about the ID. Can shed any light on how the ID was made? SmartSE (talk) 10:43, 15 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Why doesn't it look like a D. cinnabari? It's a lot younger, admittedly, but that's not unusual for any specimen away from Socotra. It's a very slow growing tree and the the characteristic ordered branching develops slowly.  This is a good image, suitably captioned, to show a young tree.
 * Is being an anon IP now not only an "anyone can edit", but they're also RS on tree taxonomy? Andy Dingley (talk) 11:17, 15 April 2015 (UTC)


 * I just moved the comment here in the spirit of "don't bite the newbies" – the IP editor had actually put it in the article. I'm not familiar with D. cinnabari, but Dracaena draco certainly has single heads when young, very different from old specimens, as per File:Dracaena_draco_3.jpg, also in a botanic garden. Peter coxhead (talk) 12:29, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

Hi there - since asked, let me say that I took this photo myself in the Koko Crater, and identified the plant according to its label there. Just speaking for myself, I would guess that the Koko Crater botanists knew what they were doing. cheers, Daderot (talk) 00:39, 21 April 2015 (UTC)
 * It would be great if someone could mention this in the article. And seedlings (according to a google search) are also different.  Richardson mcphillips (talk) 00:17, 19 December 2015 (UTC)

Remove subjective language
Can someone who knows about this topic please go through this article and remove the subjective language like "most beautiful."

Pigi5 (talk) 22:13, 11 December 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
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