234 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



The commercial varieties are distinguished according to 

 the form in which they are imported. They are thus 

 named : — 



1. Dragon's blood in the reed, or Stick Dragon^s Blood; 

 in sticks about eighteen inches in lengthy wrapped in a 

 piece of palm-leaf and bound with very thin strips of rattan 

 cane. It is supposed to be produced from the berries of 

 Calamus draco, 



2. Dragon's Blood in drops or heads, — This variety is in 

 small pieces about the size and shape of a nutmeg ; a num- 

 ber of these are laid lengthwise in a strip of palm-leaf, 

 which is rolled round them, they are then tied with a string 

 between each mass, so that the whole resembles a string of 

 beads. We have the authority of Rumphius for stating 

 that this also is procured from the fruit of C, draco, 



3. Dragon's Blood in tears. — This occurs in loose rounded 

 lumps, varying in size from a pea to a swanks egg, and 

 there is some reason for believing that it is furnished by the 

 fruit of Calamus Eotang (Plate YIII. fig. 39). 



4. Dragon's Hood in lump, — A very inferior article, which 

 is probably the refuse of the more carefully prepared sorts 

 kneaded in masses, which afterwards are broken into the 

 irregularly shaped pieces in which we receive it. 



