CALAMUS ROTANG. ORD. XLIX. Tripetaloidee. 787 
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 Islands, Java, and other parts of the East 
Indies, according to Kempfer, by exposing this fruit to the steam 
of boiling water, which softens the external shell, and forces out 
the resinous fluid, which is then inclosed in certain leaves, of the 
reed kind, and hung in the air to dry. _ Another way of obtaining 
the Sanguis Dradonis is by simply boiling the fruit in water, 
inspissating the strained decoction, and drying it in the same 
manner as the former. In Palimbania the external surface of the 
ripe fruit is often observed covered with the resin, which is rubbed 
off by shaking the fruit together in a bag; when this is done, the 
drug is melted by the sun’s heat, and formed into globules, which 
are folded in leaves: this is deemed the purest kind of dragon’s 
blood; and that which is next in goodness is procured by taking 
the fruit, which is found to be still distended with resin, out of 
the bag, and, after bruising it, exposing it to the sun, or boiling 
it gently in water; the drug then appears floating upon the 
surface, and is skimmed off and shaped into small cakes. The 
inferior sort of dragon’s blood is that which rises from the crude. 
fruit after being Jong boiled, and is usually formed into very 
large cakes, or masses, in which the membranous parts of the fruit, 
and other impurities, are intermixed. It is also brought to us 
adulterated, or artificially composed, in various ways. Both the 
small globules, and the large masses, which we have noticed, are 
imported here, and found to vary widely im goodness and purity. 
@ As some of the Crotons, (vide Linn. Supp. p. 319) and other trees noticed by 
Cranz, de duabus draconis arboribus. ad. p. 13. An exudation similar to the 
sanguis draconis produced from a tree at Botany Bay, was discovered by Sir 
Joseph Banks and Dr. Solander. Vide Huwkesworth’s Collection of Voyages, 
vol. 3. p. 498. & 505. But the substance now known at New South Wales by 
the name of red gum, is perfectly soluble in water; the yellow gum of this place 
is however in its chemical and medicinal qualities not very different from sanguis 
draconis, and has been successfully employed as an astringent by Dr. Blane. 
See Phillip’s Voyage to New South Wales. p. 59. 
