Forests (Feb 2020)
What We Know and What We Do Not Know about Dragon Trees?
- Petr Maděra,
- Alan Forrest,
- Pavel Hanáček,
- Petr Vahalík,
- Roman Gebauer,
- Roman Plichta,
- Radek Jupa,
- Julian Jansen Van Rensburg,
- Miranda Morris,
- Nadezhda Nadezhdina,
- Lucie Vaníčková,
- Joanna Jura-Morawiec,
- Justyna Wiland-Szymańska,
- Hana Kalivodová,
- Klára Lengálová,
- Martin Rejžek,
- Hana Habrová
Affiliations
- Petr Maděra
- Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocoenology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, Brno 613 00, Czech Republic
- Alan Forrest
- Centre for Middle Eastern Plants, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 20a Inverleith Row, Edinburgh EH3 5LR, Scotland, UK
- Pavel Hanáček
- Department of Plant Biology, Faculty of Agriculture, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, Brno 613 00, Czech Republic
- Petr Vahalík
- Department of Forest Management and Geoinformatics, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, Brno 613 00, Czech Republic
- Roman Gebauer
- Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocoenology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, Brno 613 00, Czech Republic
- Roman Plichta
- Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocoenology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, Brno 613 00, Czech Republic
- Radek Jupa
- Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocoenology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, Brno 613 00, Czech Republic
- Julian Jansen Van Rensburg
- Freie Universität Berlin, Kaiserswerther Str. 16-18, 14195 Berlin, Germany
- Miranda Morris
- School of History, University of St. Andrews, St. Katharine’s Lodge, St. Andrews KY16 9BA, Scotland, UK
- Nadezhda Nadezhdina
- Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocoenology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, Brno 613 00, Czech Republic
- Lucie Vaníčková
- Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocoenology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, Brno 613 00, Czech Republic
- Joanna Jura-Morawiec
- Polish Academy of Sciences Botanical Garden—Centre for Biological Diversity Conservation in Powsin, Prawdziwka 2, 02-973 Warsaw, Poland
- Justyna Wiland-Szymańska
- Department of Systematic and Environmental Botany, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Uniwersytetu Poznańskiego 6, 61-614 Poznań, Poland
- Hana Kalivodová
- Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocoenology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, Brno 613 00, Czech Republic
- Klára Lengálová
- Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocoenology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, Brno 613 00, Czech Republic
- Martin Rejžek
- Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocoenology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, Brno 613 00, Czech Republic
- Hana Habrová
- Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocoenology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, Brno 613 00, Czech Republic
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/f11020236
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 11,
no. 2
p. 236
Abstract
This article is a broad review focused on dragon trees—one of the most famous groups of trees in the world, well known from ancient times. These tertiary relicts are severely endangered in most of the area where they grow. The characteristic features of the dragon tree group are described and the species belonging to this group are listed. This review gathers together current knowledge regarding the taxonomy, evolution, anatomy and morphology, physiology, and ontogeny of arborescent dragon tree species. Attention is also paid to the composition, harvesting, medicinal, and ethnobotanical use of the resin (dragons’ blood). An evaluation of population structure, distribution, ecology, threats, and nature conservation forms the final part of the review. In the conclusions we recommend further avenues of research that will be needed to effectively protect all dragon tree species.
Keywords
- <i>dracaena</i>
- arborescent form
- dragon tree group
- taxonomy
- anatomy
- morphology
- ecophysiology
- distribution
- ecology
- ethnobotany
- threat
- nature conservation
