Calamus draco (Willd.) Dragon's Blood (sticks)
date: label: date made
content: ca 1881
notes: label: Description
content: 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.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
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content: Health & Medicine
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content: American Enterprise
label: Exhibition
content: American Enterprise
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Sewer, Andy; Allison, David; Liebhold, Peter; Davis, Nancy; Franz, Kathleen G.. American Enterprise: A History of Business in America
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Wm. Schieffelin and Company
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MG.050039
label: accession number
content: 10696
label: catalog number
content: 50039
objectType: label: Object Name
content: crude drug
label: Other Terms
content: Materia Medica; Drugs; Sticks; Husk
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: dragon's blood sticks (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (container material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 9 7/8 in x 3 in; 25.0825 cm x 7.62 cm