Gems

Gems
can be purchased in the treasure section of the market.

are used to speed up the time it takes to: AND can be spent to:
 * Construct Buildings.
 * Clear Obstacles.
 * Hatch eggs.
 * Breed dragons.
 * Grow treats.
 * Complete Quests.
 * Anything else that involves time  except  the Colosseum, Dragonsai Gifting Tree, the four-day wait for Kairos to be activated, DragonCash or |gem collection from habitats, the 24 hour clock to give free gems and the 24 hour clock to reset the Tines of the Scar to replenish magic.
 * Upgrade the Nursery to hold up to four eggs.
 * Upgrade the Hibernation Cave to hold up to 300 dragons.
 * Purchase the Epic Breeding Island.
 * Purchase the Dragonsai Gifting Tree.
 * Upgrade the Breeding Cave to the Enchanted Breeding Cave.
 * Upgrade the Epic Breeding Island to the Epic Breeding Sanctuary.
 * Upgrade the Storage Tower to add more slots (up to 35).
 * Upgrade the Gemstone Island to hold up to five gemstone dragons per habitat.
 * Upgrade the Large Habitats to Giant Habitats.
 * Purchase Giant Habitats.
 * Upgrade the Shrines.
 * Purchase non-basic Dragons.
 * Purchase Egg Pedestals.
 * Purchase Time Fragments to assemble the Artifacts - Chronolith, Time Claw, and Statue of Kairos - required to summon Kairos.
 * Purchase additional Habitats above the the maximum per level.
 * Unlock Breeding Hints.
 * Level up dragons.

Gem Prices
The purchase price for |gems are constant throughout game progression. can be purchased for:

Gem Value
One |gem is equal to whatever time is left  up to  an hour. This means if there is 02:03:00 (hh:mm:ss) left for the egg to hatch or breed, it will cost three |gems to finish it (2 's for the hours + 1 for the 3 minutes). However, if you wait four minutes until 01:59:00 it will only cost two |gems. There is a glitch that allows players to spend one |gem when the timer shows 00:00:00.

Obtaining Gems
Free |gems can be received via friends who gift. Up to 500 |gems can be received daily (assuming 500 friends willing to gift) but only three gems a day can be sent to people on a player's friends list. See the Strategies page for additional information on gifting |gems.
 * The Dragonsai Gifting Tree can be purchased for 100 |gems and will allow the player to give away three additional gems per day.

Free |gems can also be obtained by winning in the Colosseum. A silver trophy awards two |gem and a gold trophy awards five gem. A bronze trophy does not award any |gem.

can be obtained by getting the Gold Treasure chest (which is done by coming in first place in a race) at the Dragon Track. Awards can include one to two |gems.

can be earned with Gemstone Dragons in the Gemstone Island.

can be obtained if a goal that requires the user to breed an epic, opposite, gemstone, Pepper, or Forest dragon is completed. The |gems awarded range from one to five, depending on the difficulty of the particular dragon in question to breed.

As of March 26, 2013, |gems can also be obtained by sharing the completion of some goals on Facebook or Twitter.

For DragonVale's 1 year anniversary, Backflip Studios gave 25 free |gems to the accounts of those who logged in between September 14, 2012 and September 17, 2012.

'''Between June 20, 2013 and June 23, 2013, Backflip Studios offered 30% free |gems with every purchase, exclusive to Google Play users. The announcement had a typographical error, in that it indicated "July" rather than "June".'''

For DragonVale's 2 year anniversary, Backflip Studios gave 25 free |gems to the accounts of those who logged in from September 13, 2013, onwards by entering "2years" into the Redeem Code Screen and following the steps to collect the gift.

Gems Needed Per Level
The amount of |gems per level can be found here on the Dragons page.