Question and Answer

This is Dracaena draco, aka the Dragon Tree, aka Drago de Canarias, and I am growing one, from seed, having eaten the bitterish fruit while sitting in the shade of such a tree in the cathedral square in La Laguna, Tenerife's old capital and a city of outstanding architecture.

Like you, I collected a couple of fruits to sow, but didn't expect much luck. Once upon a time, the seeds had to pass via the bottom of a flightless bird which used to roam the island off the coast of Africa.

The bird, like the Dodo, is now extinct, so Dragon Trees have dwindled in numbers – no bird's digestive system to encourage germination.

Luckily, the good folk of Tenerife have discovered other ways to propagate their beloved trees: I simply stuck my two red berries into compost, watered well, popped into a plastic bag to keep in the moisture, and stood the pot on a sunny windowsill.

Three years later, I have a decent-sized Dragon Tree peering suspiciously through the window at an English landscape.

My baby Dracaena draco may survive; it may not. Only time will tell.

At the moment it looks a bit worse for wear with many of its leaf tips browned and dried by having to live in a conservatory. But I will persevere. I hope that it does, too.

The Dragon Tree reputedly gets its name from mythology. In The Eleventh Labour of Hercules: The Apples of The Hesprides, there is mention of Landon, the 100-headed dragon, guardian of the Garden of the Hesprides, who is killed by Hercules and from whose blood sprung up the Dragon Trees.

They are very slow growing, and can take a decade or so before flowering – and then the stem starts to branch.

The tree pictured is the oldest specimen in Tenerife, in La Orotava, in the Orotava Valley. It's probably 600 years old, but no-one knows

for certain.