G76 AEOIDEiE, 



On the exploration of Madeira and Porto Santo in the 15th century, 

 dragon's blood was one of the valued productions collected by the 

 voyagers, and is named as such by Alvise da ca da Mosto in 1454/ It 

 is also mentioned by the German physician Hierony^mus Miinzer, who 

 visited Lisbon about 1494.^ 



The tree yields the resin after incisions are made in its stem; but so 

 far as we know the exudation has never formed a regular and ordinary 

 article of commerce with Europe. It has been found in the sepulchral 

 caves of the aboriginal inhabitants. 



The name Dragon's Blood has also been applied to an exudation 

 obtained from the West Indian Pterocarpus Draco L., and to that of 

 Croion Draco Schlecht. ; but the latter appears to be of the 

 nature of kino, and neither substance is met with in European 

 commerce. 



AROIDE^. 



RHIZOMA CALAMI AROMATICI. 



m 



Uadlx Calami aromatici, Radix Acori; Siveet Flag Roof; F. Acore 



odorant ou vrai, Roseau aromatique; G. Kahnus. 



Botanical Origin — Acorus Calamus L., an aromatic, flag-like plant, 



growing on the margins of streams, swamps, and lakes, from the coasts 



of the Black Sea, through Southern Siberia, Central Asia, and India, as 



far as Amurland, Northern China, and Japan ; indigenous also to North 



America. It is now established as a wild plant in the greater part of 



Europe, reaching from Sicily as far north as Scotland, Scandinavia, am 



Northern Russia ; and is cultivated to a small extent in Burma and 

 Ceylon. 



_ Regarding the introduction oi Acorus Calamus into Western Europe, 

 it IS believed in Poland to have been introduced there in the b^tl 



1 



century by the Tartars, yet it seems not to have attracted then any 



attention. The well-informed botanist. Bock (Tragus), mentioning tht 

 use of the preserved rhizome by wealthy persons, states ^ that he hat 



the 



1 



relates that he 



Brussa in Asia Minor. Camerarius," wu'itincr in 1588, speaks of it ^^ 

 mtroduced some years previously, and then plentiful in Germany, 

 which seems to show a rapid propagation. Gerarde at the close of the 



^t IS brought in quantities from Germany-:' hence we may inter tnai 

 It Avas not then collected in England, as we know it was at a later 

 period.'^ ^ 



.! I^'^m^sio, Puiccolta delle Navlgntionl ct * Eariorum Stlrphtm Ilidor'x^ 



ingui, \ diet. i. 97. i -.7ft .ton 



Ant^' 



1576. 520. ,. . v..,nPof. 



«^;l» '''Jf ™,''"".' ^l^^'^'^^^'^'Wen der Baler;. ' ^j'fortu!^ mfdirm et phUosoiih kn.% Franco 



1550 r J '^i^ew/taynmer, Strassburg, 7 See ahoTvimen in Journ. of Botanif, 



(1871) 1(33. 



