475 
According to Linnaeus there are feveral varieties of the Calamus 
Rotang, which he has founded upon the different figures of this tree 
given by Rumphius ; but whether thefe are varieties only, or diftincl: 
x ecies, it is not for us to determine. The fpecimens of the Calamus 
in the herbariums of Sir Jofeph Banks and Dr. Smith, differ 
fiderably in their foliage ; fo that different fpecies of this obfcu 
con 
re 
genus win probably in future be fyftematically defined ; our bufinefs 
however has only been to felecl: for delineation that which accorded 
beft with the defcriptions of it given by Rumphius and Ksempfer, 
conformably to the fynonyms to which we have referred. 
Several trees are known to abound with a red refinous juice, which 
is obtained by wounding the bark, and called dragon's blood, as the 
Pterocarpus Draco or Pterocarpus officinalis of Jacquin, the Dracaena 
Draco, the Dalbergia monetaria, and the Pterocarpus fontol 
Befides thefe, many of the Indian red woods, while growing, pour forth 
through the fiffures of the bark a blood-coloured juice, forming a refi- 
nous concretion, to which the name dragon's blood has been affixed/ 
This drug however is chiefly obtained from the fruit of the Calamus 
Rotang, and is procured at the Molucca Iflands, Java, and other parts 
of the Eaft Indies, according to Kaempfer, by expofing this fruit to 
the fleam of boiling water, which foftens the external fhell, and forces 
out the refinous fluid, which is then inclofed in certain leaves, of the 
reed kind, and hung in the air to dry. Another way of obtaining the 
Sanguis Draconis is by fimply boiling the fruit in water, infpiffating 
the flrained decoction, and drying it in the fame manner as the 
former. In Palimbania the external furface of the ripe fruit is often 
obferved covered with the refin, which is rubbed off by fhaking the 
fruit together in a bag ; when this is done, the drug is melted by the 
heat, and formed into globules, which are folded in leaves : 
this is deemed the pureft kind of dragon's blood ; and that which is 
uext in goodnefs is procured by taking the fruit, which is found to 
a As Tome of the Crotons, (vide Linn. Supp. p. 319) and other trees noticed by 
Cranz, de duabus draconis arboribus. ad, p. 13. An exudation fimilar to the fanguis 
draconis produced from a tree at Botany Bay, was difcovered by Sir Jofeph Banks and 
■Dr Solander. Vide Hawkefworth's ColleSfion of Voyages, vol. 3. p. 498. & 505. But 
the fubftance now known at New South Wales 
folubl 
ye 
n its chemical and medicinal 
very different from fanguis draconis, and has been fuccefsfully employed 
aftringent by Dr. Blane. See Phillip's Voyage to New South Wales, p. 59 
N 
35 
6 F 
b 
