摘要
A collection for Dracaena plants was established recently at theXishuang-banna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). It is the firstof its kind in China. With an area of 1.4 hectares, the collection was constructed in two parts, oneis for the collection of native species, and the other is for introduced cultivated species. Alltogether 34 species with about 460 plants both from China and abroad have been collected andcultivated in this collection. The collection was designed and constructed in accordance with itsoriginal habitat, and meanwhile met the needs to make the collection as a scenic spot. The dracaenaplant, also known as the Dragon's Blood tree in China, belongs to Agavaceae family, with a total ofabout 150 species in this family in the world. Dracaena plants are distributed in the tropical andsubtropical regions in Asia and Africa, and five are endemic to China. Some of the species in genusDracaena, such as Dracaena cambodiana, D. cochinchinensis, and D. ensifolia are the resource plantsfor extracting the famous traditional Chinese medicine: Dragon 5 Blood. It is reputed to be a veryspecific medicine for invigorating the circulation of blood, and has been approved to be effectiveon treating many blood diseases.
