FOREST OF DRAGON’S

BLOOD TREES
One of the most unusual forest in the world is located on Rokeb di Firmihin, central
part of Socotra Island. This is almost pure stand of rare Dragon’s Blood Trees –
legendary trees which look as if they have arrived from another planet.
RELICTS OF SOCOTRA
The dry, isolated Socotra island has unusual plant and animal life. Out of 825 species
on the island 307 are endemic – found only in Socotra.
This unusual plant life has developed on the island in isolation from the outside world
since Miocene, for some 20 million years or longer. Thus, most of the trees on the
island are unique – such as several species of frankincense trees, myrrh trees, desert
rose (Adenium obesum ssp. socotranum), the only known wild pomegranate (Punica
protopunica) or cucumber tree (Dendrosycios socotrana).

DRAGON’S BLOOD TREES

The most famous plant on Socotra is Dracaena cinnabari – Dragon’s Blood Tree.
This tree grows naturally only in this island, it is found in hills, in the central and
eastern plateaus and mountains of the island.

DENSE CROWN
Dragon’s Blood Trees grow slowly and their age can reach 650 years. As the times
goes, they develop very dense, umbrella-shaped crown, covered with leaves
which grow only at the end of young branches. Thus the tree creates shadow
which protects its stem and base part.

This tree is able to grow in dry locations (it can extract the necessary water also
from fog) and if many trees form dense canopy, rich ecosystem has a possibility
to develop under them even in dry climate.

SAP
Dragon’s Blood Tree gained its notoriety already in the ancient times due to its
blood-like, red sap. It has found many uses – it is used by locals to cure almost
any kind of disease, especially as a stimulant and also – to cause abortion. Earlier
this sap was used also as a red dye and color for artists. It is added to the varnish
of violins up to this day.

THE LAST FOREST OF DRAGON’S BLOOD

TREES
Earlier these trees were more common. Nowadays one sees them only in some
parts of the island. For most part these are single, old trees or groups, with almost
lifeless ground around them.

Dragon’s Blood Trees are very endangered in their natural habitat, mostly due to
goats but also due to sap and firewood collection. Trees regenerate only in the
most inaccessible locations where goats and people can not reach them.

The largest and best preserved neatural woodland of Dragon’ Blood Trees is on
the isolated Rokeb di Firmihin – limestone plateay with an area of 540 ha which
from all sides is flanked by deep ravines, to some extent protecting it from
ominpresent goats. This is the only dense forest of these trees, with multiple rare
and endemic species of other plants and animals. Some plants and smaller
invertebrates (e.g. beetle Corticeus socotranus) have been found only in this forest.

Rokeb di Firmihin is exposed to the southwestern monsoon and rains here are
most frequent in May – June and September. This area gets somewhat more rain
than the remaining part of Socotra.

Unfortunately this unusual forest is living its last decades. Research of the age
structure of these trees on the island shows that most trees are either mature or
old and there are few young ones (1). It is expected that in coming decades more
and more of the old trees in Firmihin plateau will die due to great age.

Biology[edit]
The dragon's blood tree usually produces its flowers around March, though flowering does
vary with location. The flowers tend to grow at the end of the branches. The plants have
inflorescences, and bear small clusters of fragrant, white or green flowers. The fruits take
five months to completely mature. The fruits are described as a fleshy berry, which
changes from green to black as it gradually ripens. The fleshy berry fruit ends up being an
orange-red color that contains one to three seeds. The berries are usually eaten and
dispersed by birds and other animals.
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

Uses[edit]
Dragon's blood is used as a stimulant and abortifacient.[9] The root yields a gum-resin, used
in gargle water as a stimulant, astringent and in toothpaste. The root is used in rheumatism,
the leaves are a carminative.[10]
The trees can be harvested for their crimson red resin, called dragon's blood, which was
highly prized in the ancient world and is still used today. Around the Mediterranean basin it
is used as a dye and as a medicine, Socotrans use it ornamentally as well as dying wool,
gluing pottery, a breath freshener, and lipstick. Because of the belief that it is the blood of
the dragon it is also used in ritual magic and alchemy.[11] In 1883, the Scottish botanist Isaac
Bayley Balfour identified three grades of resin; the most valuable were tear-like in
appearance, then a mixture of small chips and fragments, with a mixture of fragments and
debris being the cheapest.[6] The resin of D. cinnabari is thought to have been the original
source of dragon's blood until during the mediaeval and renaissance periods when other
plants were used instead.[12]
The local inhabitants of the city in the Socotra Island use the dragon's blood resin as a
cure-all. Greeks, Romans, and Arabs use it in general wound healing, as a coagulant, cure
for diarrhea, for dysentery diseases, for lowering fevers. It is also taken for ulcers in the
mouth, throat, intestines and stomach.[13]
Dragon's blood from D. cinnabari was used as a source of varnish for 18th-century
Italian violin-makers. It was also used as tooth-paste in the 18th century. It is still used as
varnish for violins and for photoengraving. Dragon's blood is also listed in a 16th-century
text, Stahel und Eyssen, as an ingredient in a quenching bath for tempering steel.
[14]
 However this text is vague and poorly regarded as either an accurate description of
smith's practice, or as a viable recipe