Dragon's blood

Dragon's blood is a bright red resin which is obtained from different species of a number of distinct plant genera: Calamus spp.

[1][2] The resin of Dracaena species, "true" dragon's blood, and the very poisonous mineral cinnabar (mercury sulfide)[3] were often confused by the ancient Romans.

Dragon's blood resin is also produced from the rattan palms of the genus Calamus of the Indonesian islands and known there as jernang or djernang.

The species are:[5] In his study of artists' pigments, the chemist George Field described dragon's blood as “a warm semi-transparent, rather dull, red colour, which is deepened by impure air, and darkened by light.”[6] The dragon's blood known to the ancient Romans was mostly collected from D. cinnabari, and is mentioned in the 1st century Periplus Maris Erythraei (xxx.10.17) as one of the products of Socotra.

[8] Locals on Socotra island use the Dracaena resin as a sort of cure-all,[citation needed] using it for such things as general wound healing, a coagulant (though this is ill-advised with commercial products, as the Calamus species acts as an anti-coagulant[9] and it is usually unknown what species the dragon's blood came from), curing diarrhea, lowering fevers, dysentery diseases, taken internally for ulcers in the mouth, throat, intestines and stomach, as well as an antiviral for respiratory viruses, stomach viruses and for skin disorders such as eczema.

Dragon's blood incense is also occasionally sold as "red rock opium" to unsuspecting would-be drug buyers.

[citation needed] The occurrence of bitter taste masking compounds in dragon's blood from Daemonorops draco indicates the relevance of the species for use in food, beverage, and pharmaceutical industries.

[14] A study on oral toxicity of the DC resin methanol extract taken from the perennial tree Dracaena cinnabari was performed on female Sprague Dawley rats in February 2018.