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] The compound 4'-demethyl-3,9-dihydroeucomine (DMDHE), derived from the resin of Daemonorops draco, the homotypic synonym for Calamus draco, is a natural bitter-masking substance. This compound, which masks the bitter taste, suggests the importance for the food, beverage, and pharmaceutical industries to improve the taste and acceptability of foods and medicines.[4]
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
^Willdenow CL (1799) Species Plantarum. Editio Quarta. Berolini [Berlin], ed. 4 2(1): 203.
^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. PMID6658717.