Arborescent plant with a thick trunk, whose younger specimens do not branch and have smooth bark, showing only slight reticulated marks. The leaves are greyish-green and emerge from the end of the trunk and branches. It grows on steep slopes, from which it can filter water.

It is endemic to the Canary Islands, Madeira and Cape Verde. In the Canaries, concretely in Icod de los Vinos, there is an extremely large specimen whose age is calculated at 365. Incisions are made into the bark of the dragon tree, obtaining a red resin named dragon’s blood, to which medicinal properties are attributed.