Botanical Name

Daemonorops draco (Willd.) Blume

Family

Arecaceae.

Synonyms

Calamus draco Willd., Calamus draconis Oken, Daemonorops  propinqua Becc., Palmijuncus draco (Willd.) Kuntze,

Regional Name

English : Dragon’s blood, Hindi : Khoon kharaba, Hiradhoki, Sanskrit : Raktaniryasa, Kannada : Khadgamriganettaru, Khadgamryganettaru, Gujarati : Hiradakhan, Marathi : Hiradakhan, Telugu : Khadgamrigamnetturu, Khadgamrygamunetturu,.

Part Used

Exudate.

Description

It is an evergreen climbing palm producing a cluster of unbranched stems up to 10-15 meters long. The plant is found in Andaman and Nicobar islands and is a native of Myanmar, Malaysia Thailand and Indonesia. It has slow growth, requiring about 10 years to reach 1m height. The leaves are green, tinged with red at the base, arranged in dense rosettes at the ends of the branches. The flowers are very fragrant, form large clusters of greenish-white petals. The fruits are orange-red berries, with a single seed, 3 – 4 cm in diameter and have a thick red colored resin collected over it. The resin collected from the wounded trunk, branch or fruit is dark red colored and is called as Dragon’s blood.

Phytoconstituents

The contains droco resino tannols, dracoresen and flavone quinones. It also contains Pterocarpol, Oleanonic aldehyde, Ursonic aldehyde, Dipterocarol, Oleanonic acid, Dammarenolic acid, Dracooxepine, Seco – triflavonoid - Dracofavan-A.

Ayurvedic Properties

Rasa : Kashaya (Astringent), Guna : Laghu (Light for digestion), Ruksha, Vipaka : Katu (Undergoes pungent taste after digestion), Virya : Sheeta (Cold), Karma : Kaphapitta shamaka (reduces vitiated kapha and pitta dosha).

Ayurvedic Applications

Garbhashaya Vishodhana, Arsha, Raktarsh, Pradara, Raktadosha, Sotha, Antrasula.

Medicinal Uses

It is used for the treatment of wounds, bleeding piles, heal, menorrhagia and diarrhoea. It is also used to activate blood circulation, remove blood, stasis and relieve pain in the treatment of menstrual pain, amenorrhea, postpartum bleeding chest congestion chest pains and dyspnoea.