The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-07-15
naAaoN rRan IS DEAD
v,nd Of Asparagus 90 Feet
" . EiQh and 10000 Years Old.
From the london Globe.

,,.s4iug. that OF Une pyTei1lu u % -
--,tstion scarcely inferior, it is remark
-. low Little notice has been taken OF the
80 - the colossal dragon tree OF Orotava-
u 10 Gigantic, hoary-headed vegetable
- died almost suddenly few years
and NAV be said, like the deacons
ssr,5arful old masterpiece, TO nave gone
,'.o zoos all at once-aH at once, ana
- frst-iust as bubbles do Wnen
DolnlIk ,, After a babvhood Of centur-
su0' 5,cade5 of maturity, and decadence
l9'' II does seem pltisble that the de-
80 NJ this wonder Of the world snouIu
70 evoked little or no comment. IN &C
-o-sanc4 with the new theory that plants
s.al and have a hereafter, 1t may De mat
+ba old dragon tree Is receiving else" iN'i''
and respected lie. :, truth .bo 70
.I.,sd curiosity Of Orotava was nothing
80 SORT It was a kind of gigantic
80 asparagus. and a near blood reIa-
80 n the fragile, delicate lilies OF our gar
~ Put pveY Solomon at his least gIorl-
w. a,,ocb would never have been jealous OF
- banouenOI. for the dragon tree Is at
- rario4 Of its strange CROWN mon
c+--us upco(th thing-a creepy, eVll-sus-
ras+i., out-bf-all-time creature, nj COM
nari51 Of gpinly p erodactyls ana glgah
Fl, saurlans, with some OF VIM, u Uh5 ah-
cent sDecimea of Orotava may have oeeh
SS-sopaIIy ACQUAINTED in its younger days.
Win It's bloH-red sap exuding freely,
slough with dlrdling slOwnesS, at every
.-o,1d jrs s,pnge crown of stiff, strong
,a5r5-hks leays at the end Of every octo-
-rs-liks arm, and its scale-clad trunk, 1t IS
bot fi+Fcult to tace the origin Of its name.
The free which bars the golden apples is
;r5iganous TO dictionaries, and little fancy
vss regured with an imaginative people 10
t,rn this rponstrcus vegetable growth into
tba Guardian dragon. Did not it bleed
Iiok red blood, did it not bristle with
swords. and WIS not its abode on those
Isles Of the BEST far beyond the gates OF
Gades. in the veritable Garden OF TIE Hes
perdesi Ta, ancients always spoke OF one
dragon guarding the golden fruit because
the monster Of Orotava was even then re-
,novad frdn all its comrades in size, bulk
and gbasiines. The old Guanches veIer-
s.ed tue lib ster, though they We're brought
M under. it's shadow and must have been
well accutoiued to its peculiaritieS. They
regarded ! as possessed Of animal life and
defed it. lin its hollow trunk performing
druidcal 1tes, and they used its blood-red
SAP The Dragons blood of commerce. for
emballnind their dead. When Alonzo de
Lugo. the conqueror of Teneriffe, came to
Orotaya id 1893, he spared the tree, but,
scandaliza5at the profane mysteries which
had taken lace in it's interior, he con verted
It's lolowAss ito chapel for holy mass.
Humboldt, b 1899, gives its hight as appear
ing about 10 or 60 feet and It's circumfer
erc9 near thlroots as As feet, and the diam
eter Of the,trunk at 10 feet from the
ground sis iUiu u English feet" and he
,,o,yr, rad i'll apa at IN O00 wars The
opening was : large at table was placed
in it, round which fourteen persons could
seat themselTs; and a staircase in the in
terror cOnduct& the visitor up to the hight
whence the breaches spraug.
Slow indeed pust have been its growth,
n for 400 yeaB after the visit of
the first navigaors LIE Dru measured the
4 tree most careAlly, proving that during
h tnat long period tie increase had only been
one tlot at the base, the other dimensions
4 being practically identical. Since Hum
boldt's ace unit, the famous dragon tree Of
Orotaya was visited by nearly all the trav-
elers, historians monks, peddlers and sol
Oilers who had the mIldest globe-trotting
b propensity. In Bl9 an arm was wrenChed
NJ OH Ia a storm, alu about some forty years
ago some INSCRIPTIONS persons cut off a
n huge piece Of th1 hollow trunk and presen-
Ted It TO the Kew Museum. Another storm
IN 1867 broke off the upper part, leaving
The trunk alone st nding. A traveller at
thaJ time says the ground underneath was
covered with pieces of broken branches
n some being Is fet in circumference. When
n the land where the tree was growing came
ri into pogse>sionof the late Marquis del Sau-
zal be nursedthe aged vegetable with low
ing care, tilledup the gap in its trunk with
masonry, AMI did all that was poss bic to
~ vic h.
4 saw it in $50, measured the trunk and
iound it 60 ret high abo, the ground, and
Va feet il circumference at that level and
a feet in circumference at a hight OF l416
PEI He avs: Proudly it raises It's an
que arms above everything around; but
oW it is hampered. An indigenous wild
urel tree is absolutely in contact on one
de- ana a LOmbardy poplar is almost
'aching on the other, while there are such
1merous peach trees, oleanders and
anges between and all about that there
hardly single point from which we can
y a fair view The old tree moderately
edited with 5000 years of life, has gone
40 way OF All trees, but most fehcitously
10 Marquis del Sanzal has planted on its
5ac5 site Seeding derived from its most
aeient progenita, and this youngster is
=" healthy plant some feet high, look
I'm shape olly-exactly like a fine:
ing carrot lightly stuck in the ground by
Vper end, aid surmouRted by a crown
%oFd-sdaped leaves. The visitor to
olaVa still climbs up the steep hfll above
iuerto to visitthe beautiful gardsn of the
ftaLq uesa del Sfuzal, and see the spOt where
~ historic tredformerly stood. This baby
-ssoh VIII pyObably not flower for some
lily or thirty years yet. and il will
5 branch after it has blossomed. In
snoorlng gtrden there is dragon which
e. u lo yet plossomed, ana yet it is more
@SA ~ yearsold.
s6.o oolahic'A language, the dragon tree is
49, "a ardco, and is described as having
ara eoIHe item, which, when the tree iS
olq' becomes much branched. each
Ind Oelqg terminated by "a crowded
az. VI Ianceolate linear entire leaves of a
b. S1o- green color, which leaves embrace
sg+rri ~ oy thelr base, and on falling off at
4 S5 'eaVe ring-like cicatrix or SCARF
rom - age curious warts appear. and one
Erysi 10 olo Orotava tree has been nre-
bsnnt "uicn is as large as good sized CO.
bugb Nelug Ike that fruit in shape and its
Bra sNVl!lor. Though no particular
"a ~ AIlherto been taken in the Cana
hl ear unese curious trees, there are
sitore ta Ialrly sized specimens for the
eing nv, see, one of the Oldest extar,t
Eneterr 'oaOlY that at TIE gates Of the
Ecant AZ !cod. 1t is mentioned in fine
band - NJ: lonlcle CT the CONQUEST of fine
Eatderr T5I'eIirte, ana standing in solitary
Lere ;s . Ine best specimen to study
Vines G a3 oGner good example at Icod de-
Eag5n - ~L4Ch may be is even older Those
|rclv 80, however, are small and ain
Htars' NHigi when compared with +bo ia