The medicinal use of this sap dates back several centuries. In the 17th century, the Jesuit Bernab Cobo wrote about the widespread use of Sangre de Drago among the indigenous people of Mexico, Peru, and Ecuador.
Sangre de Drago is a traditional medicine also known as Sangre de Grado or dragon’s blood and is freely traded in Peru.
It comes from the Croton Lechleri tree, which grows in the Amazon jungle, in South America, especially in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, and which reaches between 10 and 20 meters in height.
The trunk of this plant is less than 30 cm in diameter and produces a kind of reddish resin, which when expelled, seems as if it were bleeding due to its red and sticky blood-like color.
Seven species of Croton in Peru can harvest the precious fluid. But Dragon’s blood is also found in Asia and the Canary Islands but is prominent mostly in the South American Andean region.
Sangre de Drago is mainly used to stop bleeding, heal wounds and protect them from infection, But has been used since ancient times as a wound healer, general medicine, varnish and dye.
When applied to an injury, Sangre de Grado dries quickly and acts as a protective layer or second skin, although stains the clothes too.
Sangre de Drago also relieves itching, inflammation, intestinal infections, ulcers, and diarrhea.
Among the various components of Sangro de Drago, the alkaloids called taspina stand out. Since at least the late 1980s, scientists discovered that the healing power of sangre de Drago is mainly related to this alkaloid.
Dragons Blood (Sangre de Drago) is a good and powerful option for wound healing.
Research published in 2004 in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine notes that the results strongly support most ethnomedical uses of Sangre de Grado.
Taken by the mouth for dysentery diseases (diarrhea, intestines, and stomach), lowering fevers, throat, an antiviral for respiratory and stomach, and for skin disorders like eczema, cuts, and insect bites, potential antitumor too. Interesting fact: Also used for alchemy.