Dragon's Blood
in botany a wingleaved, slender-stemmed palm, similar in habit to that which furnishes the chair It is a native of Sumatra and canes. other Malayan islands. The fruits, which grow in bunches, are about the size of a cherry, and are covered with imbricating scales of a red color, coated with a resinous substance, which is collected by placing the fruits in a bag and shaking them; the friction loosens the resin, which is then formed into sticks or cakes, and constitutes the best dragon's blood of commerce. a In commerce, sanguis draconis, resin, so called on account of its red color. It exudes from various trees, either spontaneously or from incisions.
There are three kinds in commerce: (1) East Indian dragon's-blood, which is found on the ripe fruits and leaves of several palms of the genus Calamus viz., C. rotang, C. draco and C. Petrœus; (2) American, obtained from incisions in Pterocarpus draco, indigenous to the West Indies; and (3) Canary dragon'sblood from 'Dracena draco. Dragon'sblood is dark-red brown, opaque, tasteless, scentless, and brittle. When pure it dissolves with a fine red color in alcohol and in ether, and in oils both fixed and volatile; alkalies also dissolve it more or less completely. Nitric acid oxidizes dragon's-blood, forming oxalic acid, but dilute nitric acid heated with the resin, yields nitrobenzoic acid. Dragon's-blood is used for coloring varnishes, for preparing gold lacquers, for tooth tinctures, and for giving a fine red color to marble.