What is the Dracaena Cinnabari?

Dracaena Cinnabari is a Dragon Tree native to the Socotra archipelago. It is also referred to as the Dragon Blood Tree and Socotra Dragon Tree. It is one of the most striking of Socotra’s plants, a strange-looking, umbrella-shaped tree. It was first formally described by Isaac Bayley Balfour in 1882. Its red sap was the dragon’s blood of the ancients, sought after as a medicine and a dye.  Pliny the Elder believed that the Dragon Tree sprang up after a fight and mingling of blood between an elephant and a basilisk. Dragon’s Blood was used in the classical to medieval period in magic, alchemy and in medicine as an astringent. Unfortunately, there was some confusion with the bright red poisonous pigment cinnabar. Dragon’s Blood is used in colored varnishes and other products and was an essential ingredient for varnishing 18th-century Italian violins. Dragon’s Blood from Dracaena cochinchinensis is a remedy in traditional Chinese medicine for stomach ulcers, blood clots and for closing wounds.

The post What is the Dracaena Cinnabari? appeared first on interaksyonph.