If I were in charge of promoting tourism in Yemen, I’d be using the native dragon tree, or Socotra tree, as my mascot. Native to the Socotra Island these unusual trees have evolved in isolation over millions of years.

The Latin name of the endangered Socotra dragon tree or dragon blood tree is Dracaena cinnabari and it is native to the Socotra archipelago of islands in Yemen in the Indian Ocean. It is called a dragon tree due to the red sap that the trees produce.

“If you prick us, will we not bleed?”

The sap is believed to have medicinal purposes.

The largest island of Yemen is also called Socotra and it comprises about 95% of the landmass of the archipelago.

Due to its isolation one third of its plant life is found nowhere else in the world. It has been described as “the most alien-looking place on Earth”.

This is what the dragon tree looks like when it is completely dried out.

If these dragon trees from Yemen don’t make you want to get out and do something to protect our earth, we don’t know what will.

Oleg Znamenskiy / Shutterstock.com; and images of dragon tree from Shutterstock

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