Dragon’s Blood is a bright red resin found in nature that is used in ceremonies, alchemy, medicine, incense, dyes and was once used as a cure-all in antiquity before modern scientific studies. Also, this post is to write about the history of Dragon’s Blood, not to give medical advice. #notadoctor.
There are multiple plant genera species from tropical regions like the Canary Islands, Socotra, Madeira and Morocco, China and Southeast Asia that created the bright red resin: Croton (Euphorbiaceae), Dracaena (Dracaenaceae), Daemonorops (Palmaceae), and Pterocarpus (Fabaceae). It originally came from the Dracaena cinnabari, Socotra dragon tree.
Photo of Dragon’s Blood Trees near a gorge in Socotra Island, Yemen. Source: Wikipedia: Rod Waddington from Kergunyah, Australia. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic.
The bright red colour comes from the red resin from the bark. Dragon’s Blood is a resin that’s deep, dark red. The dye creates a bright red colour that is a bit translucent and bold.
HEX Code #6B0C05 Dragon’s Blood
The interesting yet very fictional back story of its origins comes from the 16th-century navigator Richard Eden. He anecdotes that Dragon’s Blood was formed when an elephant fought against a dragon.
[Elephants] have continual warre against Dragons, which desire their blood, because it is very cold: and therefore the Dragon lying awaite as the Elephant passeth by, windeth his taile, being of exceeding length, about the hinder legs of the Elephant, and when the Elephant waxeth faint, he falleth down on the serpent, being now full of blood, and with the poise of his body breaketh him: so that his owne blood with the blood of the Elephant runneth out of him mingled together, which being colde, is congealed into that substance which the Apothecaries call Sanguis Draconis, that is Dragons blood, otherwise called Cinnabaris.
The other myth about Dragon’s Blood comes from Ancient Greece when the death of a Ladon, a hundred-headed dragon sometimes depicted as a serpent, who was once the Guardian of the Garden of the Hesperides and the golden apples that granted immortality alongside the Hesperides nymphs. The vigilant serpent was gigantic and covered in black and red scales. It never slept and was always on duty guarding the apples for the Goddess Hera. Hercules and his twelve labours were tasked by King Eurystheus to retrieve the golden apples, requiring them to kill Ladon. It was difficult at first with mallets and swords, but Hercules defeated the dragon with arrows laced with Hydra venom. Mortals could not touch the apples, but when Hercules did, the apples would disappear and then reappear on the tree again. The dragon’s blood, spilled upon the earth, gave birth to the Dragon’s Blood tree.
The etymology of Dragon’s Blood comes from the spilt blood of a dragon in war. But the term “Dragon’s blood” refers to a reddish resinous product in the form of granules, powders, lumps or sticks, obtained from the four distinct plant genera. The name “Dragon’s blood” dates back to the 1st century AD when a Greek sailor wrote about an island called Dioskoridês where the Socotra trees yielded drops of Indian cinnabar as a gum or resin distilling from a tree which was called Indian cinnabar, a mercury sulfide mineral, in a shipping manual “Periplus of the Erythrean Sea.”
It has been a colour that was known since ancient Greece and Rome, as well as in India, China, and the Middle East. It was first used as a dye, paint pigment and ancient medicine. It was used as a cure-all for wounds, as well as respiratory and gastrointestinal issues. The resin from Dracaena was used to make varnishes, tinctures, plasters, toothpaste, stains horns to resemble tortoiseshell, wool, to decorate pottery and as a cosmetic lipstick to the 18th century. Two versions of Dragon’s Blood (Dracaena draco and Dracaena cinnabaris) were used as a varnish for Stradivarius violins.
In alchemy, it was also used on gold to make it look redder and for ritual magic.
In China, it was the red varnish for wooden furniture. It was also used as a writing ink for posters, banners for celebrations, like the Chinese New Year and weddings.
Dragon’s Blood was very popular in the 19th century. The painting Pentecost by Giotto di Bondone and Workshop is a part of a seven-panel series called Life of Christ, depicting the Nativity and Passion of Christ, and Pentecost, the birthday of the Church that takes place 50 days after Easter. The Pentecost was completed around 1267 or 1276, and used Dragon’s Blood red for a fire effect above the heads of the Apostles. It was a rare pigment to use.
Painting of the Pentecost, 45 × 43.5 cm, Source: Wikipedia, Public Domain.
Incense is made of Dragon’s Blood resin. It’s used now in homeopathy and in new age, occult and voodoo rituals to banish negativity, healing, meditation and protection and manifestations of love, money and good luck. The incense is sold as a bundle of dyed sage known as smudge sticks, a mixture of palo santo, a compound in the form of a cone, incense sticks and bricks. The natural resin is also used as an incense. It has a rich, sweet, earthy scent close to amber. People find the scent calming and grounding. People have used the resin in oil and ointment form.
Modern day, it’s used in scientific discoveries to help alleviate issues with the promotion of blood circulation, regenerating muscle, relieving swelling and pain, and maintaining hemostasis in pharmaceutical research, as noted in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology in November 2019. It states that it is a valuable source of bioactive compounds, mainly flavonoids and their oligomers, with potential therapeutic effects on different diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, stomach and intestinal ulcers. But the findings found some unreliable sources and needed more research.
Dragon’s Blood is a resin that, in general, needs more research to know more about its contributions in depth and any long-term side effects. It had blood-thinning properties. It has been used in anti-microbial usage against bacteria, fungi and viral properties. There have been multiple studies on the anti-inflammatory effects on ailments like arthritis that could decrease inflammation but help with pain in a 2023 study. Dragon’s Blood is one of the most common remedies for digestive issues like diarrhea and dysentery. While Dragon’s Blood might have a positive future in the medical field, it still hasn’t been shown to cure, treat or prevent issues.
Under The Moonlight 
Dragon’s Blood is a bright red resin found in nature that is used in ceremonies, alchemy, medicine, incense, dyes and was once used as a cure-all in antiquity before modern scientific studies. Also, this post is to write about the history of Dragon’s Blood, not to give medical advice. #notadoctor.
There are multiple plant genera species from tropical regions like the Canary Islands, Socotra, Madeira and Morocco, China and Southeast Asia that created the bright red resin: Croton (Euphorbiaceae), Dracaena (Dracaenaceae), Daemonorops (Palmaceae), and Pterocarpus (Fabaceae). It originally came from the Dracaena cinnabari, Socotra dragon tree.
Source: Wikipedia: Rod Waddington from Kergunyah, Australia.
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic.
The bright red colour comes from the red resin from the bark. Dragon’s Blood is a resin that’s deep, dark red. The dye creates a bright red colour that is a bit translucent and bold.
Dragon’s Blood
The interesting yet very fictional back story of its origins comes from the 16th-century navigator Richard Eden. He anecdotes that Dragon’s Blood was formed when an elephant fought against a dragon.
The other myth about Dragon’s Blood comes from Ancient Greece when the death of a Ladon, a hundred-headed dragon sometimes depicted as a serpent, who was once the Guardian of the Garden of the Hesperides and the golden apples that granted immortality alongside the Hesperides nymphs. The vigilant serpent was gigantic and covered in black and red scales. It never slept and was always on duty guarding the apples for the Goddess Hera. Hercules and his twelve labours were tasked by King Eurystheus to retrieve the golden apples, requiring them to kill Ladon. It was difficult at first with mallets and swords, but Hercules defeated the dragon with arrows laced with Hydra venom. Mortals could not touch the apples, but when Hercules did, the apples would disappear and then reappear on the tree again. The dragon’s blood, spilled upon the earth, gave birth to the Dragon’s Blood tree.
The etymology of Dragon’s Blood comes from the spilt blood of a dragon in war. But the term “Dragon’s blood” refers to a reddish resinous product in the form of granules, powders, lumps or sticks, obtained from the four distinct plant genera. The name “Dragon’s blood” dates back to the 1st century AD when a Greek sailor wrote about an island called Dioskoridês where the Socotra trees yielded drops of Indian cinnabar as a gum or resin distilling from a tree which was called Indian cinnabar, a mercury sulfide mineral, in a shipping manual “Periplus of the Erythrean Sea.”
It has been a colour that was known since ancient Greece and Rome, as well as in India, China, and the Middle East. It was first used as a dye, paint pigment and ancient medicine. It was used as a cure-all for wounds, as well as respiratory and gastrointestinal issues. The resin from Dracaena was used to make varnishes, tinctures, plasters, toothpaste, stains horns to resemble tortoiseshell, wool, to decorate pottery and as a cosmetic lipstick to the 18th century. Two versions of Dragon’s Blood (Dracaena draco and Dracaena cinnabaris) were used as a varnish for Stradivarius violins.
In alchemy, it was also used on gold to make it look redder and for ritual magic.
In China, it was the red varnish for wooden furniture. It was also used as a writing ink for posters, banners for celebrations, like the Chinese New Year and weddings.
Dragon’s Blood was very popular in the 19th century. The painting Pentecost by Giotto di Bondone and Workshop is a part of a seven-panel series called Life of Christ, depicting the Nativity and Passion of Christ, and Pentecost, the birthday of the Church that takes place 50 days after Easter. The Pentecost was completed around 1267 or 1276, and used Dragon’s Blood red for a fire effect above the heads of the Apostles. It was a rare pigment to use.
Incense is made of Dragon’s Blood resin. It’s used now in homeopathy and in new age, occult and voodoo rituals to banish negativity, healing, meditation and protection and manifestations of love, money and good luck. The incense is sold as a bundle of dyed sage known as smudge sticks, a mixture of palo santo, a compound in the form of a cone, incense sticks and bricks. The natural resin is also used as an incense. It has a rich, sweet, earthy scent close to amber. People find the scent calming and grounding. People have used the resin in oil and ointment form.
Modern day, it’s used in scientific discoveries to help alleviate issues with the promotion of blood circulation, regenerating muscle, relieving swelling and pain, and maintaining hemostasis in pharmaceutical research, as noted in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology in November 2019. It states that it is a valuable source of bioactive compounds, mainly flavonoids and their oligomers, with potential therapeutic effects on different diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, stomach and intestinal ulcers. But the findings found some unreliable sources and needed more research.
Dragon’s Blood is a resin that, in general, needs more research to know more about its contributions in depth and any long-term side effects. It had blood-thinning properties. It has been used in anti-microbial usage against bacteria, fungi and viral properties. There have been multiple studies on the anti-inflammatory effects on ailments like arthritis that could decrease inflammation but help with pain in a 2023 study. Dragon’s Blood is one of the most common remedies for digestive issues like diarrhea and dysentery. While Dragon’s Blood might have a positive future in the medical field, it still hasn’t been shown to cure, treat or prevent issues.
Banner Credit: Sangre de drago oil with Croton lechleri resin stock photo from iStock Photo by Madeleine_Steinbach
Reference:
Color Lex – Giotto, Pentecost
The Project Gutenberg – THE COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION OF THE ERYTHRÆAN SEA
The Collector – Heracles Steals the Golden Apples: The Hero’s Eleventh Labor
Science Direct – Dragon’s blood: Botany, chemistry and therapeutic uses
Hyperallergic – The Colorful Stories of 5 Obsolete Art Pigments
Budding Buddhist – Incense of Dragon’s Blood and its Magical Effects: Complete Guide
Healthline – What Is Dragon’s Blood and What Are Its Uses?
University of Cambridge – Dragonsblood: the alchemy of paint
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