This specimen of <i>Calamus draco</i> was donated to the Smithsonian in 1881 by the firm William Schieffelin & Company, a wholesale drug company that was founded in New York City in 1793. The resin of <i>Calamus draco/i>, called dragon’s blood, was imported to the United States mostly from Sumatra and Borneo. The resin was extracted from the berries, kneaded into long thin cylinders, wrapped in palm leaves, and bound in thin strips of cane. Dragon's blood was sometimes used for medicinal purposes as an astringent in diarrhea, but its principle use was as a red coloring for lacquers and varnishes.
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Sewer, Andy; Allison, David; Liebhold, Peter; Davis, Nancy; Franz, Kathleen G.. American Enterprise: A History of Business in America
