Portugal 2 Euro 2018 Botanical Garden

In the year 2018 it is 250 years ago that the Botanical Garden of Ajuda was opened. This garden was designed on behalf of King Don José 1st for his children to play in! It was the first Botanical Garden in Portugal and it had the goal of preserving, studying and collecting as many plants as possible. Ajuda is located near Belem on the Tagus near Lisbon. At the moment there are more than 5000 species of living plants in this garden, which according to Italian structures is built in perfect symmetry. An important tree that can be found in this garden is the Dragoeiro (Dracaena Draco) the Dragon Blood Tree. If the bark of the dragon's blood tree is cut or the leaves are bruised, the plant secretes a reddish resin known as dragons blood. This was known as long ago as in the time of the Romans! The Dragon Blood Tree was the inspiration of the illustrator João Fazenda. On the coin the Dragon Blood Tree is depicted in the centre. Around the tree is the text "250 Anos Jardim Botanico Da Ajuda" (250 years of Ajuda Bot anical Garden). At the bottom of the coin is the country name Portugal together with the year 2018. The Dragon Blood tree described above can be found mainly in the Canary Islands, the Cape Verde Islands and Madeira. The oldest Dragon blood tree in the world can be found on Tenerife, this is several thousand years old! Marja and Hans were in Madeira last June and have seen several Dragon Blood trees there. Below is a picture taken by Marja where two Dragon Blood trees can be seen.