Calamus_draco

<i>Calamus draco</i>

Calamus draco

Asian species of rattan plant

Calamus draco is an Asian species of rattan plant in the family Arecaceae; its native range is from peninsular Thailand to western Malesia.[1][2] It is a source of the red resin known as dragon's blood, which is a pigment with medicinal uses.[3]

Quick Facts Calamus draco, Scientific classification ...

Description

Calamus draco has stems in clusters forming individual rattan stems climbing up to 15 m., with sheaths to 30 mm diameter. Leaf fronds are described as cirrate (with a cirrus: extension of the rattan leaf tip armed with grappling hooks), produced from leaf-sheaths, which are bright green, bearing chocolate-coloured indumentum when young: they are 2.5 m long including petiole (up to 300 mm and armed with groups of short lateral spines to 6 mm long); the cirrus is about 1 m long. About 20 regularly arranged leaflets are on each side of the rachis. The mature fruit are more or less ovoid, 28 x 20 mm, covered in 16 vertical rows of scales and may be heavily encrusted with the "dragon's blood".[2]

References

  1. [1]
    Willdenow CL (1799) Species Plantarum. Editio Quarta. Berolini [Berlin], ed. 4 2(1): 203.
  2. [2]
    "Calamus draco Willd". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  3. [3]
    Gibbs A; Green C; Doctor VM. (1983). "Isolation and anticoagulant properties of polysaccharides of Typha augustata and Daemonorops species". Thromb. Res. 32 (2): 97–108. doi:10.1016/0049-3848(83)90021-X. PMID 6658717.
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