THE FIRST BOOK

OF THE HISTORIES

OF RARE PLANTS

BY CHARLES CLUSIUS.

Being about to write the history of those plants which I have observed as more rare during my various travels, I shall begin it with trees, for so order seems to require; then I shall proceed to shrubs, under-shrubs, and brushwood, to which I shall subjoin some ἐπαυλοκαύλους. It is my intention to embrace all these in the first book; the remaining species I shall distribute into the following books.

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... 2, 323
Dracaena draco R. vi, 7, 335
Asparagus draco 2. cf. 451

A woodcut illustration of a Dracaena draco tree. The main tree features a thick, gnarled trunk with a scaly texture, leading to a symmetrical, umbrella-shaped canopy formed by many dichotomous branches ending in tufts of long, pointed leaves. Two lateral illustrations show specific details: on the left, a severed trunk section displaying internal fiber structure; on the right, a branch tip laden with clusters of small, round fruits.

History of the Dragon tree.

The history of this tree has been related by few, and that quite imperfectly. It has pleased me, therefore, to set it down here and to begin our observations with it, since it is very rare, especially in our Europe, and (unless I am mistaken) unknown to herbalists at the time I was writing these commentaries.

Now the Dragon (for I find no more suitable name) is a tall tree, resembling a Pine to those viewing it from afar, so even and evergreen are its branches. Its trunk is thick and supports eight or nine branches a cubit long, growing evenly and naked, which, split at the top, end in three or four other branches a cubit or a little more in length, and of the thickness of an arm, likewise naked and without leaves, bearing at the summit heads full of leaves a cubit long and an inch wide, gradually ending in a point, with a midrib thicker and more prominent, as in the leaves of the Iris, and thin and reddish at the sides: these leaves clearly represent a point, and are evergreen, and grow by embracing one another in the manner of Aloe or Iris. The trunk is very rough, gaping with many cracks, and pours out a fluid during the heat of the Dog-days, which, thickened into a red tear, is called dragon's blood; for which reason indeed I have named this tree the Dragon. The wood of the trunk is firm and admits iron with difficulty, because it consists as if of fibers running transversely and obliquely; but the branches, since they are pregnant with much sap, can be cut easily enough.

I first saw this tree at Lisbon in the year of our restored human salvation 1564, behind the monastery sacred to the Blessed Virgin, named of Grace, eight palms in thickness, growing on a hill among some olives, unknown and neglected by the monks, who asserted that it bore neither flower nor fruit; however, I later discovered the matter to be otherwise, having been presented by a friend with a small branch torn from that very tree in the following year. Now this branch (which, having kept for a long time with some leaves, a fragment of bark, and a tear removed with my own hands, I left in Belgium with many others of that kind when summoned by the Emperor Maximilian) is a foot or more in length, to which are attached other small branches laden with much fruit packed together in clusters. The fruit has a yellowish color, the taste some-