11/4/2020 Resins

(https://www.usda.gov/) (https://www.fs.fed.us/)
U.S. FOREST SERVICE
Caring for the land and serving people
United States Department of Agriculture

Home (../../) / Wildflowers (../) / Ethnobotany (./) / Resins

Resins

What is a plant resin?

What do you think of when someone says resin? Images of sticky, gummy sap-like substances instantly
jump to mind and most people consider all these plant products to be resins. Not all these sappy liquids
are resins however.

Resins are plant products that,

are not soluble in water,

harden when exposed to air,

do not play a role in the fundamental processes of the plant, and

are generally produced by woody plants.

Resins are produced in special resin cells in plants, and are also produced when an injury occurs to the
plant. Resins can be produced through the bark of a tree, the flowers of an herb, or the buds of a shrub.

Think of a pine tree that has a missing tree limb. What do you see? Sticky “sap” flows from the tree,
essentially making a bandage over the wound that hardens and eventually fossilizes into an incredibly
hard substance called amber.

What is not a resin? (/wildflowers/ethnobotany/images/resins/pineresin_

Pine resin.
Plants produce many compounds that can be confused with
resins. These compounds include:

Gums (/wildflowers/ethnobotany/gums.shtml)

Mucilage

Oils and Fats (/wildflowers/ethnobotany/oils.shtml)

Waxes (/wildflowers/ethnobotany/waxes.shtml)

Latex (/wildflowers/ethnobotany/latex.shtml)
(/wildflowers/ethnobotany/images/resins/sundew_lg.jpg)
Carnivorous plants such as the spoon-leaved

Resinous Plants sundew (/wildflowers/plant-of-the-

week/drosera_intermedia.shtml) (Drosera
intermedia) use mucilage to trap insects.
Resins can occur as part of these other compounds, such as
latex. Latex can contain resin, making the plant a resinous
plant. There are many resinous plants all around the world. Although many resinous plants are not native to North America, some have established
themselves here and are even considered weeds (/wildflowers/invasives/index.shtml).

Conifers
cedar

fir

juniper

pine

redwood

spruce

yew

larch

https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/ethnobotany/resins.shtml 1/5
11/4/2020 Styrax - Wikipedia bahasa Indonesia, ensiklopedia bebas

Styrax
Styrax adalah nama "marga" atau "genus" perdu-perduan
atau pohon kecil anggota suku Styracaceae. Marga yang Styrax
beranggotakan sekitar 130 spesies ini kebanyakan menyebar di
Asia timur dan tenggara di wilayah beriklim hangat hingga
tropika di sebelah utara katulistiwa; meskipun juga menyebar
ke belahan bumi selatan di Amerika Selatan[1]. Beberapa
spesiesnya merupakan pohon-pohon penghasil kemenyan.

Marga Pamphilia, kadang-kadang masih dianggap terpisah,

kini digabungkan ke dalam Styrax berdasarkan kajian
morfologis dan DNA.[2]

Perdu Styrax tumbuh antara 2-14 m, dengan daun-daun

tunggal bundar telur 1–18 cm × 2–10 cm; selalu hijau atau
mengalami gugur daun. Bunga menggantung, dengan mahkota
putih bertaju 5–10; berkumpul dalam malai terbuka atau
malai rapat berisi 3 – 30 kuntum, hingga sepanjang 25 cm.
Buah batu bulat memanjang, kering atau berdaging.
Kemenyan durame (Styrax benzoin)
menurut Franz Eugen Köhler: Köhler's
Medicinal Plants (1887)
Daftar isi
Klasifikasi ilmiah
Pemanfaatan
Setanggi Kerajaan: Plantae
Pengobatan (tanpa takson): Angiospermae
Kayu
(tanpa takson): Eudikotil
Pertamanan
(tanpa takson): Asteridae
Contoh spesies
Referensi Ordo: Ericales

Pustaka Famili: Styracaceae

Genus: Styrax
L.
Pemanfaatan
Species

Setanggi Sekitar 130, lihat teks

Kemenyan adalah getah (resin, hars) Sinonim

Kemenyan, seperti yang
dijual di Gombong
yang dikeluarkan oleh luka-luka
memar di kulit batang pohon
Pamphilia Mart. ex A. DC.
beberapa spesies Styrax yang
tumbuh di Sumatra, Jawa, Malaysia
dan Thailand. Beberapa jenis yang
biasa diperdagangkan adalah kemenyan sumatra yang berasal dari pohon
kemenyan durame (S. benzoin) dan kemenyan toba (S. paralleloneurus),
serta kemenyan siam yang dihasilkan oleh pohon S. tonkinensis dan S.
benzoides.

https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styrax 1/5
11/4/2020 Styrax - Wikipedia bahasa Indonesia, ensiklopedia bebas

Kemenyan telah diperdagangkan semenjak zaman dahulu sebagai bahan parfum, setanggi, dan juga
bahan obat-obatan. Kemenyan dalam bahasa Inggris dikenal sebagai benzoin. Kata ini kemungkinan
berasal dari bahasa Arab lubān jāwī (‫ﻟﺒﺎن ﺟﺎوي‬, setanggi dari Jawa); yang melalui jaringan
perdagangan Laut Tengah berubah dalam pengucapan menjadi benjawi dalam bahasa Katalunya,
benjuì dalam bahasa Italia, dan akhirnya benzoë dalam bahasa Latin.

Kemungkinan pada masa lampau ada beberapa banyak bahan setanggi yang aroma dan sifatnya
bermiripan, sehingga acap dipertukarkan nama dan penggunaannya. Pohon Liquidambar orientalis
dari Turki menghasilkan resin yang serupa, yang dikenal dalam perdagangan sebagai storax atau
Levant styrax. Diduga, kemenyan dari jenis inilah –setidaknya sebagian– yang pada masa lalu
diperdagangkan di wilayah Yunani dan Romawi kuno; meskipun pada masa yang sebelumnya
kemenyan dari sejenis Styrax –mungkin dari S. officinalis – memang diimpor oleh pedagang Funisia
dari wilayah Timur Dekat. Beranekanya kemenyan yang beredar ini juga terlihat dari catatan
Herodotos, ahli sejarah dari abad ke-5 s.M.[3].

Pengobatan

Resin kemenyan telah lama digunakan dalam pengobatan. Ibnu

Sina (‫اﺑﻦ ﺳﯿﻨﺎ‬, Avicenna), ahli kedokteran Islam, telah membahas
kemenyan S. officinalis dalam bukunya Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb
(‫اﻟﻘﺎﻧﻮن ﻓﻲ اﻟﻄﺐ‬, Aturan-aturan Pengobatan). Ia menyarankan
penggunaan kemenyan, dicampur dengan bahan pengeras dan
antibiotika, untuk mengobati dan menambal gigi. Kemenyan
juga termasuk salah satu komponen dalam pembuatan "Theriaca
Andromachi Senioris", semacam obat anti racun dan penyembuh
aneka penyakit dari abad ke-17.
Ego no hana: bunga-bunga cantik
Tingtur benzoin, yakni larutan kemenyan dalam alkohol, Styrax japonicus
digunakan sebagai desinfektan dan anestesi lokal untuk
mengobati luka-luka kecil. Uap tingtur benzoin yang diteteskan
dalam air panas dan dihirup, digunakan untuk menyembuhkan pilek, bronkitis dan juga asma.

Kayu

Jenis-jenis tertentu menghasilkan kayu yang cukup baik untuk

kerajinan. Kayu egonoki ( エ ゴ ノ キ , S. japonicus ) dari Jepang
digunakan untuk membuat kokyū ( 胡 弓 ), alat musik gesek
semacam kecapi.

Pertamanan

Beberapa jenis Styrax merupakan pohon hias yang populer Kokyū, dimainkan oleh gadis di
sebelah kanan
untuk taman, khususnya S. japonicus dan Styrax obassia.

Contoh spesies

https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styrax 2/5
 Journal of Arid Environments 182 (2020) 104253

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Arid Environments

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jaridenv

Phytochemistry, traditional uses and biological effects of the desert plant

Styrax officinalis L
Nidal Jaradat
Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, P.O. Box 7, 00970, Nablus, Palestine

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Styrax officinalis L. is an important medicinal plant that grows in the desert, subtropics, temperate climate, and
Styrax officinalis Mediterranean Basin regions.. It has been used for medicinal, religious, agricultural and cosmetic purposes. This
Styracaceae review aimed to collect from the literature, all the available data about the phytochemistry, traditional medicinal
Phytochemistry
uses, evidence-based uses, morphology and habitat of S. officinalis plant. This report is a review of the literature
Traditional uses
Biological activity
concerning S. officinalis chemical constituents, description, origin, traditional medicinal and evidence-based uses
Morphology published from 1966 to date. Among the databases searched for primary literature references are Pubmed,
Scientific Information Database, Scopus, Web of Science, Science Direct, Google and Google scholar. In this
search, combinations of the keyword Styrax officinalis with the terms; antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant,
anticancer, phytochemistry, ethnopharmacology, traditional uses, folk uses, morphology, biological activity,
therapeutic effects and toxicity were applied. The current review showed that various compounds have been
isolated from S. officinalis: leaves, fruits, seeds, flowers and stems such as egonol, egonol oleate, americanin,
several types of phenolic acids and benzofuran derivatives. These natural compounds and their synthetic de­
rivatives in addition to the various parts used as extracts showed valuable biological activities including anti­
tumor, hemolytic, anti-complement, anti-leukemic, antifungal, antibacterial, antioxidant and tyrosinase
inhibitory activities. This review represented a summary of the information concerning S. officinalis different
used parts. However, the areas of isolation and identification of the biologically active compounds of S. officinalis
from the roots and rhizomes also investigation more biological activities of other plant parts are essential to cover
all the scientific fields of S. officinalis.

1. Introduction relationship theories of the drug’s action were experimentally

From the beginning of human history, natural products including
minerals, animals and plants have been the major sources of therapeutic
agents for humans and animals. Moreover, traditional therapeutic
remedies are considered one of the basic sources of recently utilized
medications and will remain as one of the essential sources of upcoming
therapeutic agents (Dias et al., 2012; Singh et al., 2018). These crude
drugs continued to be used until the 19th century when pharmaceutical
companies started to produce officially approved drugs that were
manufactured mainly from natural products or synthetic materials
(Koehn and Carter, 2005; Yuan et al., 2016). In fact, the majority of the
recently used herbal medications are secondary metabolic phytochem­
ical classes including alkaloids, glycosides, essential oils, terpenoids,
steroids, flavonoids, tannins and coumarins (Kabera et al., 2014).
In the previous century, pharmacologist’s thinking about the use of
therapeutic agents changed as the receptors and structure-activity
approved (Rang, 2006; Yuan et al., 2016). This theory said that some
chemical molecules can affect on specific receptors in a human body and
produce a therapeutic or physiological effects. This led to the beginning
of a new era in the pharmaceutical industry which started with
manufacturing of new medications from pure chemical molecules
instead of herbal extracts (Atanasov et al., 2015). These drugs became
the most used therapeutic agents for many decades, of which the active
compounds were chemically synthesized either from chemical com­
pounds or from isolated herbal products such as morphine, papaverine
and codeine from Papaver somniferum, physostigmine from Physostigma
venenosum, vinblastine and vincristine from Catharanthus roseus and
hundreds of other natural molecules (Fabricant and Farnsworth, 2001;
Katiyar et al., 2012). In addition, modern medicinal chemistry in­
vestigations started with semi-synthesized drugs from combination of
naturally obtained molecules with chemical ones or produced nano­
particles of natural compounds to increase their pharmacokinetic or

E-mail address: nidaljaradat@najah.edu.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2020.104253
Received 2 May 2020; Received in revised form 13 June 2020; Accepted 27 June 2020
Available online 20 July 2020
0140-1963/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
N. Jaradat
pharmacodynamic effects or to decrease their side effects.
In the last two decades, there has been a global revolution in the
investigation of the bioactive herbal products due to the failure of
conventional synthetic medicines in treating many diseases because
their activities are limited in decreasing the symptoms or they
completely failed in treating many diseases e.g. autoimmune diseases,
viral infections, cancer, metabolic disorders and many others.
Moreover, most of the global pharmaceutical firms have either
started to produce new drugs from natural sources or have considerably
scaled up their production of natural medicaments. In addition, a huge
number of new nutraceutical and food supplemental companies have
been opened and started to produce many series of drugs and supple­
ments. All of these could be attributed to the huge improvements in
automated isolation and identification techniques.
The majority of the recently used natural medications were prepared
from plants which were intensely used in traditional medicine. In fact,
traditional medicine has deep roots in the history of medicine and
pharmacy and has a huge variety in many nations and civilizations
(Shen, 2015). However, many types of herbal products that are used in
traditional medicine such as Chinese, Indian and Arabian medicines, are
now used around the world in developed countries (Yuan et al., 2016).
One of the oldest and most famous traditional medicinal plants is
Styrax officinalis L., which is considered the formal source of herbal
medicine that is commonly known as Storax. Storax is an oleo-resin that
was used to make Tabernacle incense in the Old Testament (Freedman,
2015). In the ancient Phoenician, Egyptian, Ionian and Roman civili­
zations, Storax was utilized as a therapeutic agent for many diseases
(Vardar and Oflas, 1973a). S. officinalis belongs to Styracaceae family,
which consist mainly of shrubs and small trees inhabiting subtropical
and tropical areas (Fritsch, 2001). The Styracaceae plant family consists
of eleven genera including the Styrax genus which consists of 130 spe­
cies and was first documented by Linnaeus in 1753 (Fritsch et al., 2001;
Yan et al., 2018).
Styrax species are distributed around the world and are mainly found
in the Mediterranean basin regions, eastern regions of Asia, northern
parts of America, and most of the species distributed in South America
(Fritsch et al., 2001).
Styrax genera are commonly called Storax or snowbell, which grows
from 2 to 14 m in height. The leaves have an oval shape, are evergreen,
alternate, and deciduous. The length and breadth of the leaf are 1–18 cm
and 2–10 cm, respectively. Whereas, its flowers are pendulous and white
with 5–10 lobed corollas. The fruits are oblong-shaped and smooth
drupes (Huang et al., 2003).
2. Plant morphology and distribution
S. officinalis is a perennial deciduous small tree that reaches about 6
m in height. Its leaves are soft, simple alternate, rounded or oval-shaped
and have a greenish-white color with hairy lower surfaces. The flower
has a white color and is bell-shaped. The flower’s ovary is superior with
one pattern while they have 8–16 stamens which double the number of
petals.
Its fruits are hairy drupes, have a ball shape, greenish-yellow with
soft and long apexes. The fruits have one shiny, brown, and stony seed
(Davis, 1972; Venditti et al., 2018).
The global distribution of S. officinalis grows in the warm temperate
and arid regions of the Mediterranean Sea Basin. It grows in various
environments such as in tuff, basalt, sediment rocks, conglomerate and
eolianite, it prefers dry rocky slopes at an elevation of up to 1500 m
above sea level (Hegazy Ahmad and lovett-Doust, 2016).
3. Phytochemical components
3.1. Fruits constituents
A preliminary phytochemical screening of S. officinalis fruit pericarp
2
Journal of Arid Environments 182 (2020) 104253
extract revealed the presence of triterpenoids, tannins and saponins. A
preliminary bioactivity investigation of S. officinalis fruit extract was
carried out to see its potential as a biopesticide (Dib et al., 2016). In a
study conducted by Yayla et al. they found and identified three saponin
triterpenoids including styrax-saponin A (1), B (2) and C (3) together
with a sapogenin, styrax-deacylsaponin (4) from the S. officinalis peri­
carps (Yayla et al., 2002). Moreover, they isolated and identified several
compounds of phytochemical compounds in the endocarp parts of
S. officinalis fruits including homoegonolgentiobiside (5), ego­
nolgentiobiside (6), egonol-2000 -methyl butanoate (7), egonol oleate (8)
and americanin A (9) (Pazar and Akgül, 2015).
Additionally, in an investigation performed by Venditti et al. using
NMR techniques to identify the phytoconstituents of S. officinalis fruits
collected from Italy, sixteen molecules were recognised including: 1,5-
anhydro-D-mannitol (styracitol) (10), 2,3,4,6-tetra acetyl-1,5-
unhydro-D-mannitol (11), 1-α-linolenoyl-2-palmitoyl-sn-glycerol (12),
1,2-di-α-linolenoyl-3-linoleoyl-sn-glycerol (13), tri-α-linolenoyl-sn-
glycerol (14), 1,2-di-α-linolenoyl-sn-glycerol (15), egonol (16), deme­
thylegonol (17), sucrose (18), 60 -O-benzoyl-sucrose (19), glutamic acid,
succinic acid,lactic acid, raffinose (20), homoegonol (21), glucose and
which has various therapeutic activities. The presence of these com­
pounds provides its nutraceutical properties (Venditti et al., 2018).
Another investigation was carried out by Anil which found styracitol
(10) and sucrose from S. officinalis fruit peels (Anil, 1977).
3.2. Seed constituents
For screening of the S. officinalis seed constituents, a study by Akgul
and Anil was conducted on the hexane extract. In this study, several
phytochemical compounds were isolated and identified including egonol
(16), 5-(300 -acetoxypropyl)-7-methoxy-2-(30 ,40 -methylenedioxphenyl)-
benzofuran (22), 5-(300 benzoyloxypropyl) -7-methoxy-2-(30 ,40 -methyl­
enedioxyphenyl)-benzofuran (23), Egonol-2”’-methyl butanoate (7),
5-[300 -(1c-methylbutanoyloxy) propyl]-7-methoxy-2-(30 ,40 -dimethox­
yphenyl)-benzofuran (24) and 4-[300 -(1c-methylbutanoyloxy) propyl]-2-
methoxy-(30 ,40 -methylenedioxyphenyl)-1a,5b-dihydrobenzo-[3,4]-
cyclobutaoxirene (25). The chemical structures of these isolated com­
pounds were identified utilizing ESI FTMS, FABMS and 1 and 2D-NMR
(COSY, HMQC, HMBC) techniques (Akgul and Anil, 2003b). In fact,
egonol (16), 5-[3//-(1c-methylbutanoyloxy)propyl]-7-methoxy-
2-(30 ,40 -methylenedioxyphenyl)-benzofuran (24) and 5-(3//-acetoxy
propyl)-7-methoxy2-(30 ,40 -methylenedioxphenyl)-benzofuran (22)
compounds were previously isolated from S. obassia seeds
(Lee et al., 2008). Akgul and Anil reported the isolation of
5-[300 -(2-methylbutanoyloxy) propyl]-7-methoxy-2-(30 ,40 -dimethox­
yphenyl) benzofuran (24) from S. officinalis seeds (Akgul and Anil,
2003a).
Moreover, Segal et al. reported the isolation and identification of
homoegonol (21), in addition to egonol (16) from the glycosidic fraction
produced after the acid hydrolysis of S. officinalis seeds (Segal et al.,
1967).
In an investigation conducted by Anil, approved the presence of
other benzofuran glycoside compounds from S. officinalis seeds
including egonol-β-gentiotrioside (26), and egonol-β-gentiobioside (6)
(Anil, 1980).
Finally, the chemical composition screening of S. officinalis seed oil
by gas chromatography showed the presence of six fatty acids namely
methyl palmitate (11.62%) (27), methyl palmito-oleate (0.64%) (28),
methyl stearate (1.54%) (29), methyl oleate (51.54%) (30), methyl
linolenate (26.61%) (31) and methyl gadoleate (7.11%) (32) (Vardar
and Oflas, 1973b).
3.3. Leave constituents
During the three phenological stages, the essential oil of S. officinalis
leaves, growing wild in France (Sollie’s-Ville), was investigated using
 N. Jaradat
Table 1
Phytochemical constituents of S. officinalis various parts and the used solvents in their isolation process. In addition, Table 2 summarized the chemical classifications of S. officinalis various parts phytoconstituents.
Isolated compound Part of the plant extracted Solvent References
used

Styrax-saponin A (1), B (2), C (3) and styrax-deacylsaponin (4). Fruit pericarp Methanol Yayla et al.
(2002)
Homoegonolgentiobiside (5), egonolgentiobiside (6), egonol-2000 -metil butanoate (7), egonol oleate (8) and americanin A (9). Fruit endocarp Hexane Pazar and Akgül
(2015)
1,5-anhydro-D-mannitol (10), 2,3,4,6-tetraacetyl-1,5-anhydro-D-mannitol (11), 1-α-linolenoyl-2-palmitoyl-sn-glycerol (12), 1,2-di-α-linolenoyl-3-linoleoyl-sn-glycerol (13), Fruits Ethanol Venditti et al.
tri-α-linolenoyl-sn-glycerol (14),1,2-di-α-linolenoyl-sn-glycerol (15), egonol (16), demethylegonol (17), sucrose (18), 60 -O-benzoyl-sucrose (19), glutamic acid, succinic acid, (2018)
lactic acid, raffinose (20), homoegonol (21), and glucose.
Styracitol (10) and sucrose. Fruit peels Methanol Anil
(1977)
5-(300 -acetoxypropyl)-7-methoxy-2-(30 ,40 -methylenedioxphenyl)-benzofuran (22), Egonol (16), 5-(300 benzoyloxypropyl)-7-methoxy-2- Seeds Hexane (Akgul and Anil, 2003b;
(30 ,40 -methylenedioxyphenyl)-benzofuran (23), 5-[300 -(1c-methylbutanoyloxy) propyl]-7- methoxy-2-(30 ,40 -methylenedioxyphenyl)- Lee et al., 2008)
benzofuran (6),
5-[300 -(1c-methylbutanoyloxy) propyl]-7-methoxy-2-(30 ,40 -dimethoxyphenyl)-benzofuran (24) and 4-[300 -(1c-methylbutanoyloxy)
propyl] -2-methoxy-(30 ,40 -methylenedioxyphenyl)-1a, 5b-dihydrobenzo-[3,4]-cyclobutaoxirene (25).
3

5-[30 0 -(2-methylbutanoyloxy) propyl]-7-methoxy-2-(30 ,40 -dimethoxyphenyl) benzofuran (24). Ethanol Akgul and Anil (2003a)
2-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)-5-(3-hydroxypropyl)-7-methoxybenzofuran (21) in addition to egonol (16) from the glycosidic fraction. Ethanol Segal et al. (1967)
Egonol-β-gentiotrioside (26), egonol-β-gentiobioside (6). Ethanol Anil (1980)
Six fatty acids including methyl palmitate (11.62%) (27), methyl palmito-oleate (0.64%) (28), methyl stearate (1.54%) (29), methyl Petrol ether Vardar and Oflas (1973a)
oleate (51.54%) (30), methyl linolenate (26.61%) (31), and methyl gadoleate (7.11%) (32).
(E)-2-Hexenal (33), geraniol (34), octanol (35), nonanal (36), α-terpineol (37), tridecanal (38), trans-cubebol (39) and geranyl acetone Leaves Water Tayoub et al. (2006a)
(40). (hydrodistillation)
Phenolic acids as gallic (41), gentisic (42), caffeic (43), p-coumaric (44), vanillic (45), ferulic (46) and p-hydroxybenzoic (47). Also, the Methanol Proestos et al. (2006)
leaves contain flavonoids as quercetin (48), naringenin (49), (þ)-catechin (50) and ( )-epicatechin (51).
Melatonin (phytomelatonin) (52). Methanol Zohar et al. (2011)
Triacontanol (53), ginnon (54), myriston (55), n-octacosan (56), n-nonacosan (57), β-sitosterol (58) and styracit (59). Petroleum ether Ulubelen and G€ oren
(1973)
Linalool (60), tridecanal (38) and dodecane (61). Flowers Water Tayoub et al. (2006b)
(hydrodistillation)
Eugenol (62) and α-terpineol (37). Stems Water Tayoub et al. (2006b)

Journal of Arid Environments 182 (2020) 104253

(hydrodistillation)
Styraxin (2-exo-(30 ,40 -methylenedioxyphenyl) 6-exo-(300 -methoxy,400 -hydroxypheny1)-4-0x0–3,7-dioxabicyclo-(3,3, 0) octane) (63) Aerial Ethanol (Ulubelen, 1976;
and Δ7–stigmasteryl–3 β–d–glucoside (64). parts Ulubelen et al., 1978)
N. Jaradat Journal of Arid Environments 182 (2020) 104253

Table 2
Classification of S. officinalis constituents.
Classes S. officinalis constituents

Benzofuran Homoegonolgentiobioside (5), egonolgentiobiside (6), egonol-2000 -methyl butanoate (7), egonol oleate (8), homoegonol (21), egonol (16), demethylegonol
(17), 5-(300 -acetoxypropyl)-7-methoxy-2-(30 ,40 -methylenedioxphenyl)-benzofuran (22), 5-(300 benzoyloxypropyl)-7-methoxy-2-(30 ,40 -methylenedioxyphenyl)-
benzofuran (23), 5-[300 -(1c-methylbutanoyloxy) propyl]-7- methoxy-2-(30 ,40 -methylenedioxyphenyl)-benzofuran (7), 5-[300 -(1c-methylbutanoyloxy) propyl]-
7-methoxy-2-(30 ,40 -dimethoxyphenyl)-benzofuran (24) and 4-[300 -(1c-methylbutanoyloxy) propyl] -2-methoxy-(30 ,40 -methylenedioxyphenyl)-1a, 5b-dihy­
drobenzo-[3,4]-cyclobutaoxirene (25), 5-[30 0 -(2-methylbutanoyloxy) propyl]-7-methoxy-2-(30 ,40 -dimethoxyphenyl) benzofuran (24), 2-(3,4-homoegonol
(25), egonol-β-gentiobioside (7) and Egonol-β-gentiotrioside (26),
Lipid 1-α-Linolenoyl-2-palmitoyl-sn-glycerol (12), 1,2-di-α-linolenoyl-3-linoleoyl-sn-glycerol (13), tri-α-linolenoyl-sn-glycerol (14),1,2-di-α-linolenoyl-sn-glycerol
(15), methyl palmitate (27), methyl palmito-oleate (28), methyl stearate (29), methyl oleate (30), methyl linolenate (31), and methyl gadoleate (32).
Flavonoids Quercetin (48), naringenin (49), (þ)-catechin (50), and ( )-epicatechin (51).
Phenolic acids Gallic (41), gentisic (42), caffeic (43), p-coumaric (44), vanillic (45), ferulic (46) and p-hydroxybenzoic acids (47).
Carbohydrates 1,5-Anhydro-D-mannitol (styracitol) (10), 2,3,4,6-tetraacetyl-1,5-anhydro-D-mannitol (11), sucrose (18), 60 -O-benzoyl-sucrose (19), raffinose (20), glucose,
and styracit (59).
Saponin Styrax-saponin A (1), B (2), C (3) and styrax-deacylsaponin (4).
triterpenoids
Fatty aldehydes (E)-2-Hexenal (33), nonanal (36), and tridecanal (38).
Monoterpenoids Geraniol (34), α-terpineol (37), geranyl acetone (40), and linalool (60).
Hydrocarbons n-Octacosan (56), n-nonacosan (57), and dodecane (61).
Fatty alcohol Octanol (35) and triacontanol (53).
Dioxin Americanin A (9).
Hydrocarbon Ginnon (54) and myriston (55).
ketones
Biogenic amine Melatonin (phytomelatonin) (52).
Organic acid Succinic acid and lactic acid.
Phenylpropanoid Eugenol (62).
Phytosteroids β-Sitosterol (58) and Δ7–stigmasteryl–3–β–d–glucoside (64).
Sesquiterpenoids Trans-cubebol (39).
Amino acids Glutamic acid
Lignan Styraxin (2-exo-(30 ,40 -methylenedioxyphenyl) 6-exo-(300 -methoxy,400 -hydroxypheny1)-4-0x0–3,7-dioxabicyclo-(3,3, 0) octane) (63).

Moreover, Appendix 1 contains the chemical structures of all of the identified phytochemicals from S. officinalis various parts.

GC and GC-MS techniques. However, the essential oil yields were low
(0.01–0.02%). The major essential oils in the vegetative, flowering and
fruiting stages were (E)-2-hexenal (33), geraniol (34), octanol (35),
nonanal (36), α-terpineol (37), tridecanal (38), trans-cubebol (39) and
geranyl acetone (40) (Tayoub et al., 2006a). While, the major com­
pounds in the leaf of S. officinalis from south-eastern France were
(E)-2-hexenal, and geranial essential oils (Tayoub et al., 2006b).
In addition, S. officinalis leaves contain various phenolic acids such as
gallic (41), gentisic (42), caffeic (43), p-coumaric (44), vanillic (45),
ferulic (46) and p-hydroxybenzoic (47). They also contain flavonoids
such as quercetin (48), naringenin (49), (þ)-catechin (50) and
( )-epicatechin (51) (Proestos et al., 2006).
Furthermore, a study by Zohar et al. found that S. officinalis leaves
contain a considerable amount of melatonin (phytomelatonin) (52)
which serves as both a seasonal and a daily time signal, affecting ver­
tebrates’ photoperiodism and circadian rhythm (Zohar et al., 2011).
From the petroleum ether extract of S. officinalis leaves, a hydrocarbon
alcohol (triacontanol) (53), hydrocarbon ketones (ginnon (54), myr­
iston (55)), simple hydrocarbons (n-octacosan (56)), n-nonacosan (57))
and steroidal compounds (β–sitosterol (58)) and an unknown trihydroxy
steroidal alcohol) were obtained. Besides, styracit (59) sugar, was iso­
lated from the alcoholic extract of the S. officinalis leaves (Ulubelen and
Go€ren, 1973).
Moreover, a study conducted by Tayoub et al. found that the major
compounds in the essential oil of S. officinalis flowers were linalool (60),
tridecanal (38) and dodecane (61), while eugenol (62) and α-terpineol
(37) essential oils were the major components in the essential oil of
S. officinalis stems (Tayoub et al., 2006b).
In addition, the lignan compound styraxin (2-exo-(30 ,40 -methyl­
enedioxyphenyl) 6-exo-(300 -methoxy,400 -hydroxypheny1)-4-0x0–3,7-
dioxabicyclo-(3,3, 0) octane) (63) (Ulubelen et al., 1978) and phytos­
terol Δ7–stigmasteryl–3-β–D–glucoside (64) were isolated from the
aerial parts of S. officinalis plant (Ulubelen, 1976).
However, the preliminary phytochemical screening established by
Jaradat et al. showed that the aqueous extract of S. officinalis leaves
contained alkaloids, cardiac glycosides, phenols, saponin glycoside,
volatile oils, tannins, steroids and flavonoids. While, its organic extract
contained cardiac glycosides, starch, volatile oils, steroids and flavo­
noids (Jaradat et al., 2018). The identified compounds in different parts
of S. officinalis are summarized in Table 1.
4. Traditional uses
In fact, S. officinalis has been known for its oleo-resin (Storax) since
ancient times. It has been used by Ionians, Phenicians, Romans and
Egyptians as an incense material and in therapeutics. Storax resin had a
great economical value in the trade from the east for a long time which is
lost due to the loss of pre-existing traditional knowledge and recently it
is utilized only in the Roman Catholic Churches in Europe (Polunin
et al., 1965).
In addition, in many Muslim countries, Storax is used for the
manufacture of praying beads and incense which is burned to produce
smoke that is used mainly to clean the evil eye (Arican and Genç, 2013).
Moreover, in Latin American traditional medicine, it is used therapeu­
tically as an antiseptic, expectorant and also for the treatment of heart
illnesses, apoplexy, leprosy, constipation and bronchitis (Khan and
Abourashed, 2011). In addition, it is used externally to cure skin sores
and for the treatment of scabies (Ying, 2004). Furthermore, a mixture of
benzoin balsam and Storax has been broadly used by the Pharaohs to
cure chronic respiratory tract infectious diseases and microbial in­
fections, cough and wounds (Demiray et al., 2013; Modugno et al.,
2006).
In India, the whole S. officinalis plant has been utilized traditionally
as antibacterial, antifungal and for accelerating the wound healing
process. It is also used to treat skin ulcers, amenorrhea, and scabies.
While its tincture is used as a mouthwash as well as against asthma,
coughs, gonorrhea, tuberculosis, and edema (Chopra et al., 1986; Hey­
wood, 1993).
Additionally, in traditional Jordanian and Palestinian medicines,
S. officinalis seeds are used in cases of skin rash, leprosy and many other

4
N. Jaradat Journal of Arid Environments 182 (2020) 104253

Table 3
Summary of the bioactivities of S. officinalis compounds.
Bioactivity Isolated Potency References
compounds
Bacterial strain (s) MIC (mg/ml)

Antibacterial activity Egonol Bacillus subtilis 800 Oztürk

€ et al.
Escherichia coli 800 (2008)
Staphylococcus aureus 800
Haemophilus influenzae >400 Bertanha et al.
Klebsiella pneumoniae >400 (2013)
Pseudomonas aeruginosa 400
Streptococcus pneumonia 400
Streptococcus pyogenes >400
Homoegonol Haemophilus influenzae >400 Bertanha et al.
Klebsiella pneumoniae >400 (2013)
Pseudomonas aeruginosa >400
Streptococcus pneumoniae >400
Streptococcus pyogenes >400
Americanin A Staphylococcus epidermidis 1 De La
Cruz-S� anchez
et al. (2019)
Staphylococcus haemolyticus 1 De La
Cruz-S� anchez
et al. (2019)
Antifungal activity Egonol Candida albicans 800 Oztürk
€ et al.
(2008)
Styrax Aspergillus niger 12 Zehavi et al.
saponin A Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. Lycopersici 11.7 (1986)
Rhizopus mucco 25
Trichoderma viride 3.4
Hemolytic activity Styrax H50 ¼ 0.7 mg/ml Segal et al.
saponin A (1966b)
Sapogenin B H50 ¼ 3 mg/ml
Cytostatic activity Egonol Human leukemia HL-60 and MOLT-4 cell lines Cytostatic IC50 ¼ 2.6 and 10 mg/ml, respectively. Hirano et al.
(1994)
Cytotoxic activity Egonol Hep-2 (larynx epidermoid carcinoma), HeLa (human Egonol has cytotoxic activity against C6 and Hep- Teles et al. (2005)
cervix carcinoma) and C6 (rat glioma) cell lines. 2 with IC50 values of 10.5 and 11.8 μM/ml,
respectively. While it did not show cytotoxic
activity against HeLa cancer cell line.
Homoegonol Tested against Hep-2 (larynx epidermoid carcinoma), Has cytotoxic activity only against HeLa cancer Teles et al. (2005)
HeLa (human cervix carcinoma) and C6 (rat glioma) cell cell line with an IC50 value of 16.5 μM/ml.
lines.
Styraxin Against lung carcinoma cell line (A549) and pancreatic Enhances the cytotoxicity for both cell lines at Konuklugil
carcinoma cell line (MIA-PaCa). IC50 dose of 21.72 μg/ml (1994), Moein
(2015)
Anticancer activity Americanin A Evaluated against cyclin B1 and its partner cell division Suppressed the activity with 45% and 55.7%, Jung et al. (2015)
cycle 2 (cdc2) to prevent entry into mitosis and to respectively and has tumor inhibitory activity
estimate the tumor growth in a xenograft human colon with an IC50 value of 9.0 μM with a tumor volume
cancer HCT116 on mice model. reduction 45%
Antiinflammatory Americanin A Determined its ability to inhibit the induction of edema, The inhibition rates were 29.1% and 41.3% at the Lee et al. (1985)
activity granuloma formation, arthritis and leucocyte emigration doses of 30 and 100 mg/kg, respectively
in CMC-pouch in male Sprague-Dawley rats
Antioxidant Egonol Evaluated its activity in the production of nitric oxide Inhibited significantly the production of (NO) and Timmers et al.
(NO) and in the release of reactive oxygen species (ROS). (ROS) with IC50 values of 1 μg/ml and 1.1 μg/ml, (2015)
respectively.
Americanin A Estimated its to reduce free DPPH radicals Americanin A has free radical scavenging activity Takahasi et al.
with an IC50 value of 10 μM in comparison with (2003)
Catechin which has free radical scavenging
activity IC50 value of 8 μM.
Evaluated its potentials in the DPPH radical scavenging Has DPPH free radical scavenging activity with an Masuda et al.
and superoxide dismutase (SOD) like potentials IC50 value of 11 μM and SOD-like potential with (2009)
an IC50 value of 170 μM
Toxic activity Americanin A The toxicity tested on normal human lung epithelial cells No toxicity observed in normal cells (IC50 > 100 Dietz and Bolton
(MRC-5) μM) (2011)
Tyrosinase inhibitory Americanin A Determined its ability to inhibit the tyrosinase enzyme Has potential tyrosinase inhibitory activity with Masuda et al.
activity an IC50 dose of 2.7 μM. (2009)
Acetylcholinesterase Egonol oleate Tested anti-acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity Has inhibitory potency against hAChE with IC50 Liu et al. (2011)
inhibitory activity against human (hAChE) and eel (EeAChe). dose of 1.8 � 0.3 μM and inhibitory activity
against EeAChe with IC50 value of 1.4 � 0.5 μM

Further experiments are required to identify the chemical constituents and biological activity of S. officinalis roots and rhizomes, as well as these parts of the plant, not
yet investigated. In addition, toxicological tests are required to cover the safety issues of all used parts of this plant species. Moreover, various in-vivo anticancer,
antiviral, and other biological activities screenings are required to cover in-depth the therapeutic potential of this important plant species and the ability to use it in
modern medicine.

5
N. Jaradat
skin diseases (Jaradat, 2005; Lev and Amar, 2002). While its leaves and
flowers infusions are utilized in traditional medicine against coughs and
for the treatment of diphtheria and leucorrhoea (Al-Qura’n, 2009;
Al-Qura’n, 2015).
Moreover, in old Islamic medicine, S. officinalis oleo-resin, fruits, and
leaves were utilized orally to cure malignant tumors, fever, intestinal
ulcers, kidney and bladder pains, bronchitis, ophthalmitis, rash, tooth­
ache, acute earache and hemorrhoids (Mahdizadeh et al., 2015).
Besides, in traditional Indian medicine, S. officinalis is prepared as a
paste by smashing the fruits then boiling them until dryness and the
powder formed is mixed with cow milk, sugar, and fat. This mixture is
traditionally used as a strong male-sterilizer (Lal and Lata, 1980). While
in Iranian folk medicine, S. officinalis seed oil is used for the treatment of
constipation (Mozaffarpur et al., 2012).
5. Evidence-based uses
The aqueous and organic extracts of S. officinalis leaves have a po­
tential antioxidant activity with IC50 values of 11.7 � 0.53 and 15.5 �
0.69 μg/ml, respectively in comparison with Trolox which has an IC50
value of 2.8 μg/ml. The same study also revealed that the organic extract
of S. officinalis leaves was the best antimicrobial agent against Staphy­
lococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecium and Candida albicans with MIC of
12.5 mg/ml for all pathogens. The aqueous extract displayed better
antibacterial activity against Methicillin Resistance Staphylococcus
aureus (MRSA) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa with MIC values of 3.125
and 6.25 mg/ml, respectively (Jaradat et al., 2018).
Another study showed that the methanolic extract of S. officinalis
fruit has potent antifungal activity against Phytophthora infestans and
could be used as a potent biocide to treat late blight disease in plants
(Yanar et al., 2011).
In addition, the methanol extract from S. officinalis fruits has anti­
bacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli
strains. This activity was compared with potent broad-spectrum anti­
biotics such as ceftriaxone, amikacin, and cefepime (Mansour et al.,
2016).
However, saponin A which was isolated from S. officinalis fruit and its
debenzylated derivatives showed antimycotic activity against plant
pathogens including Rhizopus mucco, Aspargillus niger, Fusarium oxy­
sporum and Trichoderma viride (Zehavi et al., 1986).
Another study evaluated the antimicrobial activity of egonol and its
derivatives which were obtained from S. officinalis seeds against
Escherichia coli, Candida albicans, Bacillus subtilis, and Staphylococcus
aureus. The obtained results revealed that egonol and its synthesized
derivatives have a similar antimicrobial activity (Oztürk
€ et al., 2008).
Moreover, egonol and its synthetic derivatives isolated from S. officinalis
and other Styrax species seeds have attracted the attention of scientists
due to their antifungal, antibacterial (Emirdag �-Oztürk
€ et al., 2011;
Pauletti et al., 2000), anti-complement (Min et al., 2004), cytotoxic (Li
et al., 2005) and antileukemic activities (Hirano et al., 1994).
A study conducted by Nakano et al. found that the hydro-alcoholic
extract of the aerial parts of S. officinalis has an antitumor activity
(Nakano et al., 1967). Moreover, americanin A which was obtained from
S. officinalis fruit endocarps and Morinda citrifolia seeds exhibited both
DPPH free radical scavenging and tyrosinase inhibitory properties
(Masuda et al., 2009). While, egonol oleate which was also obtained
from S. officinalis fruit endocarps significantly inhibited both human
acetylcholinesterase (hAChE) and eel acetylcholinesterase (EeAChe)
activity (Liu et al., 2011; Pazar and Akgül, 2015).
In addition, Segal et al. investigated the effect of the esterification
products of sapogenin and saponin which are obtained from S. officinalis,
6
Journal of Arid Environments 182 (2020) 104253
and found that these compounds have a strong hemolytic activity and
produced hemolysis at equal molar concentrations. They also found that
the esterification process increases this property and suggested that the
aglycone part of the saponin molecule is the main factor in increasing
the hemolytic property of saponins (Segal et al., 1966a).
Shahjahan and Islam investigated the efficacy of S. officinalis oleo-
resin as a suspending agent for the formulation of antacids drugs. The
results revealed that the oleo-resin at lower concentrations produced
effects on the sedimentation volume similar to those produced by so­
dium carboxy methyl cellulose. In addition, it produced better floccu­
lation with a moderate increase in viscosity compared to sodium
carboxy methyl cellulose and did not interfere with the acid-consuming
capacity of antacid suspensions (Shahjahan and Islam, 1998).
Moreover, activated carbon prepared from S. officinalis seeds has a
remarkable surface area (1212 m2/g) and has an adsorption ability of
zinc and lead from contaminated aqueous solutions (Depci et al., 2013).
Besides, saponin rich S. officinalis extract showed strong ichthyotoxic
and molluscicidal effects. without any noticeable bad effect on the snail
upon ingestion (Dib et al., 2016).
Table 3 summarizes the collected data about the biological activities
of S. officinalis isolated compounds.
6. Conclusion
The leaves, resins, fruit, fruit peels, flowers, and seeds of the
S. officinalis plant offer resourceful natural products due to their various
biological characteristics. The summary of the collected data in the
current review revealed that S. officinalis is an essential and valuable
medicinal plant used in the folk medicine in treating of cardiovascular
diseases, tuberculosis, edema, apoplexy, leprosy, constipation, skin
sores, scabies, respiratory tract diseases, skin rash, diphtheria, leucor­
rhoea, malignant tumors, fever, intestinal ulcers, infectious diseases,
kidney and bladder pains, ophthalmitis, toothache, acute earache and
hemorrhoids. As a traditional medicine, the biological and pharmaco­
logical studies of the plant materials, crude extracts, and isolated
chemical constituents of S. officinalis offered experimental and scientific
proofs for some of its traditional uses. The pharmacological studies
focused on studying the antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant, antiin­
flammatory, antitumor, hemolytic and cytotoxic effects, all of which
confirmed most of the plant’s traditional uses. Moreover, some new
pharmaceutical and pharmacological uses were discovered, such as it
uses as a suspending agent for the formulation of antacid drugs, super­
oxide radical scavenging, antioxidant, antityrosinase, and acetylcho­
linesterase inhibitory activities. However, there was no experimental
and pharmacological evidence to prove the other traditional uses of this
plant species such as in case of in cardiovascular diseases, tuberculosis,
apoplexy, leprosy, constipation, scabies, skin rash, diphtheria, leucor­
rhoea, fever, kidney and bladder pains, ophthalmitis, toothache, acute
earache, and hemorrhoids. In fact, molecules isolated from S. officinalis
and its crude extracts possessed a broad spectrum of therapeutic prop­
erties and a wide range of bioactive molecules such as egonol, homo­
egonol, styraxin, styrax-saponin A, sapogenin B, americanin A, egonol
oleate and phenolic acid derivatives were isolated from its different
parts as clearly evident from the current review. Investigations aimed at
determining it’s in vivo toxicological and safety characteristics, the
active compounds from its roots and rhizomes and screening for more
different in vivo therapeutic activities of the various S. officinalis plant
parts could contribute positively to the discovery of new therapeutic
agents. Nevertheless, more studies should be done to understand the
pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamic effects of the plant bioactive
chemical constituents. The outcome of this study could establish the
N. Jaradat Journal of Arid Environments 182 (2020) 104253

basis for its future clinical utilization in modern science. In addition, Acknowledgments
most of the traditional uses of S. officinalis still need to be testified using
more modern methods and further clinical trials. Few more aspects such The author wishes to thank An-Najah National University for its
as pharmacokinetics, molecular biology, and natural medicinal chem­ support.
istry should be utilized to study its phytochemical standardization and
bioactivity determination according to its metabolism. Appendix 1. Chemical structures of S. officinalis various parts
components
Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial

interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.

7
N. Jaradat Journal of Arid Environments 182 (2020) 104253

. (continued).

8
N. Jaradat Journal of Arid Environments 182 (2020) 104253

. (continued).

9
N. Jaradat Journal of Arid Environments 182 (2020) 104253

. (continued).

10
N. Jaradat Journal of Arid Environments 182 (2020) 104253

. (continued).

11
N. Jaradat Journal of Arid Environments 182 (2020) 104253

. (continued).

12
N. Jaradat Journal of Arid Environments 182 (2020) 104253

. (continued).

13
N. Jaradat Journal of Arid Environments 182 (2020) 104253

. (continued).

References from aqueous solution, international porous and powder materials symposium and
exhibition (PPM 2013), izmir, Turkey. Izmir 646–650.
Dias, D.A., Urban, S., Roessner, U., 2012. A historical overview of natural products in
Ahmad, Hegazy, lovett-Doust, J., 2016. Plant Ecology in the Middle East. Oxford
drug discovery. Metabolites 2, 303–336.
University Press, UK.
Dib, R., Makhoul, K., Maalouf, R., 2016. Preliminary bioactivity investigation of Styrax
Akgul, Y.Y., Anil, H., 2003a. Benzofuran from seeds of Styrax officinalis. Fitoterapia 74,
officinalis fruit extract as potential biopesticide. J. Pharmacogn. Phytotherapy 8,
743–745.
209–213.
Akgul, Y.Y., Anil, H., 2003b. Benzofurans and another constituent from seeds of Styrax
Dietz, B.M., Bolton, J.L., 2011. Biological reactive intermediates (BRIs) formed from
officinalis. Phytochemistry 63, 939–943.
botanical dietary supplements. Chem. Biol. Interact. 192, 72–80.
Al-Qura’n, S., 2009. Ethnopharmacological survey of wild medicinal plants in Showbak.
Emirda� g-Oztürk,
€ S., Karayildirim, T., Anil, H., 2011. Synthesis of egonol derivatives and
Jordan. J. Ethnopharmacol 123, 45–50.
their antimicrobial activities. Bioorg. Med. Chem. 19, 1179–1188.
Al-Qura’n, S., 2015. Ethnobotany of analgesic/stimulant plants used by the inhabitants
Fabricant, D.S., Farnsworth, N.R., 2001. The value of plants used in traditional medicine
of Ajloun, Northern Jordan. Arnaldoa 22, 49–58.
for drug discovery. Environ. Health Perspect. 109, 69–86.
Anil, H., 1977. Isolation of styracitol and sucrose from fruit peels of Styrax officinalis L.
Freedman, P., 2015. Health, wellness and the allure of spices in the middle ages.
Chem. Abstr. 90, 1148–1155.
J. Ethnopharmacol. 167, 47–53.
Anil, H.s., 1980. Four benzofuran glycosides from Styrax officinalis. Phytochemistry 19,
Fritsch, P.W., 2001. Phylogeny and biogeography of the flowering plant genus Styrax
2784–2786.
(Styracaceae) based on chloroplast DNA restriction sites and DNA sequences of the
Arican, Y., Genç, G.E., 2013. A preliminary ethnobotanical survey of Kumluca (Antalya).
internal transcribed spacer region. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 19, 387–408.
J. Fac. Pharm. Istanb. Univ. 43, 95–102.
Fritsch, P.W., Morton, C.M., Chen, T., Meldrum, C., 2001. Phylogeny and biogeography
Atanasov, A.G., Waltenberger, B., Pferschy-Wenzig, E.-M., Linder, T., Wawrosch, C.,
of the Styracaceae. Int. J. Plant Sci. 162, S95–S116.
Uhrin, P., Temml, V., Wang, L., Schwaiger, S., Heiss, E.H., 2015. Discovery and
Heywood, V.H., 1993. Flowering Plants of the World. Oxford University Press UK.
resupply of pharmacologically active plant-derived natural products: a review.
Hirano, T., Gotoh, M., Oka, K., 1994. Natural flavonoids and lignans are potent cytostatic
Biotechnol. Adv. 33, 1582–1614.
agents against human leukemic HL-60 cells. Life Sci. 55, 1061–1069.
Bertanha, C.S., Utrera, S.H., Gimenez, V.M.M., Groppo, M., Cunha, W.R., Martins, C.H.
Huang, Y., Fritsch, P.W., Shi, S., 2003. A revision of the imbricate group of Styrax series
G., Janu� ario, A.H., Pauletti, P.M., 2013. Antibacterial evaluation of Styrax pohlii and
Cyrta (Styracaceae) in Asia. Ann. Missouri. Bot 12, 491–553.
isolated compounds. Braz. J. Pharm. Sci. 49, 653–658.
Jaradat, N.A., 2005. Medical plants utilized in Palestinian folk medicine for treatment of
Chopra, R., Nayar, S., Chopra, I., 1986. Glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants (Including
diabetes mellitus and cardiac diseases. J Al-Aqsa Unv 9, 1–28.
the Supplement). Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India.
Jaradat, N., Al-Masri, M., Zaid, A.N., 2018. Assessment of the antimicrobial and free
Davis, P.H., 1972. Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, vol. 4. Edinburgh Univ.
radical scavenging activities of Moluccella spinosa, Helichrysum sanguineum, and
Press, Turkey.
Styrax officinalis folkloric medicinal plants from Palestine. Orient. Pharm. Exp. Med
De La Cruz-S� anchez, N.G., G�omez-Rivera, A., Alvarez-Fitz, P., Ventura-Zapata, E., P�erez-
18, 107–114.
García, M.D., Avil�es-Flores, M., Guti�errez-Rom�an, A.S., Gonz�alez-Cortazar, M., 2019.
Jung, C., Hong, J.-Y., Bae, S.Y., Kang, S.S., Park, H.J., Lee, S.K., 2015. Antitumor activity
Antibacterial activity of Morinda citrifolia Linneo seeds against Methicillin-Resistant
of Americanin A isolated from the seeds of Phytolacca americana by regulating the
Staphylococcus spp. Microb. Pathog. 128, 347–353.
ATM/ATR signaling pathway and the Skp2–p27 axis in human colon cancer cells.
Demiray, H., Dereboyu, A.E., Yazici, Z.I., Karabey, F., 2013. Identification of benzoin
J. Nat. Prod. 78, 2983–2993.
obtained from calli of Styrax officinalis by HPLC. Turk. J. Bot. 37, 956–963.
Kabera, J.N., Semana, E., Mussa, A.R., He, X., 2014. Plant secondary metabolites:
Depci, T., Kul, A.R., Prisbrey, K.A., Onal, Y., Miller, J.D., 2013. Experimental and
biosynthesis, classification, function and pharmacological properties. J. Pharm.
theoretical study on Styrax officinalis activated carbon adsorption of lead and zinc
Pharmacol. 2, 377–392.

14
N. Jaradat
Katiyar, C., Gupta, A., Kanjilal, S., Katiyar, S., 2012. Drug discovery from plant sources:
an integrated approach. AYU 33, 10.
Khan, I.A., Abourashed, E.A., 2011. Leung’s Encyclopedia of Common Natural
Ingredients: Used in Food, Drugs and Cosmetics. John Wiley & Sons, USA.
Koehn, F.E., Carter, G.T., 2005. The evolving role of natural products in drug discovery.
Nat. Rev. Drug Discov. 4, 206–211.
Konuklugil, B., 1994. Lignans with anticancer activity. Istanbul J. Pharm. Times 23,
64–75.
Lal, S.D., Lata, K., 1980. Plants used by the Bhat community for regulating fertility. Econ.
Bot. 34, 273–275.
Lee, E.B., Lee, Y.S., Woo, W.S., 1985. Antiinflammatory activity of americanin A. Arch
Pharm. Res. (Seoul) 8, 139–147.
Lee, H.-J., Park, S.Y., Lee, O.-K., Jo, H.-J., Kang, H.-Y., Choi, D.-H., Paik, K.-H., Khan, M.,
2008. Benzofurans and sterol from the seeds of Styrax obassia. Chem. Nat. Compd.
44, 435–441.
Lev, E., Amar, Z., 2002. Ethnopharmacological survey of traditional drugs sold in the
Kingdom of Jordan. J. Ethnopharmacol. 82, 131–145.
Li, Q., Li, B., Qi, H., Gao, X., Zhang, G., 2005. Four new benzofurans from seeds of Styrax
perkinsiae. Planta Med. 71, 847. –454.
Liu, J., Dumontet, V., Simonin, A.-L., Iorga, B.I., Guerineau, V., Litaudon, M., Nguyen, V.
H., Gueritte, F.o, 2011. Benzofurans from Styrax agrestis as acetylcholinesterase
inhibitors: structure–activity relationships and molecular modeling studies. J. Nat.
Prod. 74, 2081–2088.
Mahdizadeh, S., Ghadiri, M.K., Gorji, A., 2015. Avicenna’s Canon of Medicine: a review
of analgesics and anti-inflammatory substances. Avicenna J. Phytomedicine 5,
182–199.
Mansour, O., Darwish, M., Ali, E., Ali, A., 2016. Screening of antibacterial activity in
vitro of Styrax officinalis L. Covers of berries extracts. Res. J. Pharm. Technol. 9,
209–213.
Masuda, M., Murata, K., Fukuhama, A., Naruto, S., Fujita, T., Uwaya, A., Isami, F.,
Matsuda, H., 2009. Inhibitory effects of constituents of Morinda citrifolia seeds on
elastase and tyrosinase. J. Nat. Med. 63, 267–273.
Min, B.-S., Oh, S.-R., Ahn, K.-S., Kim, J.-H., Lee, J., Kim, D.-Y., Kim, E.-H., Lee, H.-K.,
2004. Anti-complement activity of norlignans and terpenes from the stem bark of
Styrax japonica. Planta Med. 70, 1210–1215.
Modugno, F., Ribechini, E., Colombini, M.P., 2006. Aromatic resin characterisation by
gas chromatography–mass spectrometry: raw and archaeological materials.
J. Chromatogr. A 1134, 298–304.
Moein, S., 2015. Polyphenols and cancer: a review. Mol. Med. J 1, 6–12.
Mozaffarpur, S.A., Naseri, M., Dooki, M.R.E., Bijani, A., Kamalinejad, M., Yousefi, M.,
Mojahedi, M., Khodadust, M., 2012. Introduction of natural medicinal materia
effective in treatment of constipation in Persian traditional medicine. Mediev. Hist.
J. 3, 79–95.
Nakano, T., Hasegawa, H., Fukumaru, T., Tobinaga, S., Bjerassi, C., Durham, L.,
Budzikiewicz, H., 1967. The structure of jegosapogenol. Tetrahedron Lett. 8,
365–371.
Oztürk,
€ S.E., Akgül, Y., Anıl, H., 2008. Synthesis and antibacterial activity of egonol
derivatives. Bioorg. Med. Chem. 16, 4431–4437.
Pauletti, P.M., Araújo, A.R., Young, M.C.M., Giesbrecht, A.M., da Silva Bolzani, V., 2000.
nor-Lignans from the leaves of Styrax ferrugineus (Styracaceae) with antibacterial
and antifungal activity. Phytochemistry 55, 597–601.
Pazar, E., Akgül, Y., 2015. Chemical composition of the endocarps of fruits of Styrax
officinalis L. Nat. Prod. Res. 29, 1466–1468.
Polunin, O., Huxley, A., Everard, B., 1965. Flowers of the mediterranean. Chatto and
windus london.
Proestos, C., Boziaris, I., Nychas, G.-J., Komaitis, M., 2006. Analysis of flavonoids and
phenolic acids in Greek aromatic plants: investigation of their antioxidant capacity
and antimicrobial activity. Food Chem. 95, 664–671.
Rang, H., 2006. The receptor concept: pharmacology’s big idea. Br. J. Pharmacol. 147,
1289–1296.
15
Journal of Arid Environments 182 (2020) 104253
Segal, R., Mansour, M., Zaitschek, D., 1966a. Effect of ester groups on the haemolytic
action of some saponins and sapogenins. Biochem. Pharmacol. 15, 1411–1416.
Segal, R., Mansour, M., Zaitschek, D., 1966b. Effect of ester groups on the haemolytic
action of some saponins and sapogenins. Biochem. Pharmacol. 15, 1411–1416.
Segal, R., Milo-Goldzweig, I., Sokoloff, S., Zaitschek, D., 1967. A new benzofuran from
the seeds of Styrax officinalis L. J. Chem. Soc. C 78, 2402–2404.
Shahjahan, M., Islam, I., 1998. Preliminary evaluation of shilajit as a suspending agent in
antacid suspensions. Drug Dev. Ind. Pharm. 24, 1109–1112.
Shen, B., 2015. A new golden age of natural products drug discovery. Cell 163,
1297–1300.
Singh, S., Singh, D.B., Singh, S., Shukla, R., Ramteke, P.W., Misra, K., 2018. Exploring
medicinal plant legacy for drug discovery in post-genomic era. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.
India B Biol. Sci. 14, 1–11.
Takahasi, H., Yanagi, K., Ueda, M., Nakade, K., Fukuyama, Y., 2003. Structures of 1, 4-
benzodioxane derivatives from the seeds of Phytolacca americana and their
neuritogenic activity in primary cultured rat cortical neurons. Chem. Pharm. Bull.
51, 1377–1381.
Tayoub, G., Schwob, I., Bessiere, J.-M., Masotti, V., Rabier, J., Ruzzier, M., Viano, J.,
2006a. Composition of volatile oils of Styrax (Styrax officinalis L.) leaves at different
phenological stages. Biochem. Systemat. Ecol. 34, 705–709.
Tayoub, G., Schwob, I., Bessi�ere, J.-M., Rabier, J., Masotti, V., M�evy, J.-P., Ruzzier, M.,
Girard, G., Viano, J., 2006b. Essential oil composition of leaf, flower and stem of
Styrax (Styrax officinalis L.) from south-eastern France. Flavour.Fragr. J 21, 809–912.
Teles, H.L., Hemerly, J.P., Pauletti, P.M., Pandolfi, J.R., Araújo, A.R., Valentini, S.R.,
Young, M.C.M., Bolzani, V.D.S., Silva, D.H., 2005. Cytotoxic lignans from the stems
of Styrax camporum (Styracaceae). Nat. Prod. Res. 19, 319–323.
Timmers, M.A., Guerrero-Medina, J.L., Esposito, D., Grace, M.H., Paredes-L� opez, O.,
García-Saucedo, P.A., Lila, M.A., 2015. Characterization of phenolic compounds and
antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities from mamuyo (Styrax ramirezii
Greenm.) fruit. J. Agric. Food Chem. 63, 10459–10465.
Ulubelen, A., 1976. Δ7–Stigmasteryl-3-β-D-glucoside from Styrax officinalis. Planta Med.
30, 221–222.
Ulubelen, A., G€ oren, N., 1973. Preliminary investigations on the herba of Styrax
officinalis. Planta Med. 24, 290–293.
Ulubelen, A., Saiki, Y., Lotter, H., Chari, V., Wagner, H., 1978. Chemical components of
Styrax officinalis L.–IV1. Planta Med. 34, 403–407.
Vardar, Y., Oflas, S., 1973a. Preliminary studies on the styrax oil. Qual. Plant mater. Veg.
Times 22, 145–148.
Vardar, Y., Oflas, S., 1973b. Preliminary studies on the Styrax oil. Qual. Plant. Mater.
Veg. 22, 145–148.
Venditti, A., Frezza, C., Serafini, I., Pulone, S., Scardelletti, G., Sciubba, F., Bianco, A.,
Serafini, M., 2018. Chemical profiling of the fruits of Styrax officinalis L. from Monti
Lucretili (Latium region, Central Italy): chemotaxonomy and nutraceutical potential.
Trends Phytochem. Res. 2, 1–12.
Yan, M., Fritsch, P.W., Moore, M.J., Feng, T., Meng, A., Yang, J., Deng, T., Zhao, C.,
Yao, X., Sun, H., 2018. Plastid phylogenomics resolves infrafamilial relationships of
the Styracaceae and sheds light on the backbone relationships of the Ericales. Mol.
Phylogenet. Evol. 121, 198–211.
Yanar, Y., Kadio� glu, I., G€
okçe, A., Demirtas, I., G€
oren, N., Çam, H., Whalon, M., 2011. In
vitro antifungal activities of 26 plant extracts on mycelial growth of Phytophthora
infestans (Mont.) de Bary. Afr. J. Biotechnol. 10, 2625–2629.
Yayla, Y., Alankuş-Çalışkan, O.,
€ Anıl, H., Bates, R.B., Stessman, C.C., Kane, V.V., 2002.
Saponins from styrax officinalis. Fitoterapia 73, 320–326.
Ying, L., 2004. Ruler of the treasure country: the image of the Roman Empire in Chinese
society from the first to the fourth century AD. Latomus 63, 327–339.
Yuan, H., Ma, Q., Ye, L., Piao, G., 2016. The traditional medicine and modern medicine
from natural products. Molecules 21, 559–565.
Zehavi, U., Levy, M., Segal, R., 1986. Fungistatic activity of saponin A from Styrax
officinalis L. on plant pathogens. J. Phytopathol. 116, 338–343.
Zohar, R., Izhaki, I., Koplovich, A., Ben-Shlomo, R., 2011. Phytomelatonin in the leaves
and fruits of wild perennial plants. Phytochem. Lett. 4, 222–226.
11/4/2020 Stypro (Styrax Propolis), Inovasi dari Aeknauli Beecosystem

Pencarian... 

SEKILAS INFO PUI 2018, Balitek DAS akan Bersinergi dengan B2P2BPTH Yogyakarta – Baca Selanjutnya

Dientry oleh Dyah Puspasari - 07 May, 2019 - 1474 klik

Stypro (Styrax Propolis), Inovasi dari Aeknauli Beecosystem

31
Shares

BLI (Aek Nauli, Mei 2019)_Nama propolis mungkin sudah lama dikenal masyarakat luas sebagai produk
sampingan berupa getah dari lebah madu, yang khasiatnya tidak kalah dari madu. Namun, produk
propolis kemenyan (stypro atau styrax propolis), baru ada di Balai Litbang Lingkungan Hidup dan
Kehutanan (BP2LHK) Aek Nauli. Ini merupakan inovasi terbaru propolis yang dihasilkan melalui sistem
penyebarluasan teknologi budidaya lebah madu “Aeknauli Beecosystem” BP2LHK Aek Nauli.

Stypro merupakan produk olahan white propolis dari resin sarang lebah stingless trigona, salah satu
produk dari Pusat Unggulan Iptek (PUI) Pengelolaan Hutan Tropis Dataran Tinggi yang dilakukan para
peneliti BP2LHK Aek Nauli. Stypro berasal dari substrat resin yang dikumpulkan lebah trigona dari sari
tunas daun dan batang tanaman kemenyan yang bercampur dengan enzim dan lilin sarang lebah. Berbeda dengan produk propolis lainnya, stypro
secara spesifik memiliki kandungan senyawa fitokimia resin kemenyan yang menyehatkan berupa 50% senyawa flavonoid dan asam fenolat, 10%
minyak aromatik, dan 5% berbagai senyawa organik.

“Setelah dianalisa kandungan fitofarmaka yakni flavonoidnya, jauh lebih baik dari propolis import,” jelas Dr. Aswandi, inventor stypro, peneliti BP2LHK
Aek Nauli, kepada para awak media dan peserta Media Visit Wisata Ilmiah KHDTK Aek Nauli Toba, Kamis (2/5) di Aek Nauli. Stypro ini mempunyai
khasiat antimikroba, antivirus, dan antikanker,” lanjutnya.

Lebih lanjut dijelaskannya bahwa sebagian besar kebutuhan propolis di Indonesia dipenuhi dari impor. Oleh karenanya kehadiran stypro ini dapat
berkontribusi pada penyediaan bahan baku propolis dari dalam negeri, baik dari kuantitas maupun kualitas karena kandungan gizi yang tidak kalah
dengan produk impor. Dengan demikian akan mengurangi ketergantungan terhadap negara lain.

Peluang Pengembangan Stypro di Tapanuli

Stypro adalah inovasi riset pertama yang mengintegrasikan khasiat propolis serta resin kemenyan
melalui budidaya lebah trigona pada hutan rakyat di Tapanuli. Kemenyan (Styrax spp.) sampai saat ini
masih dibudidayakan secara luas di daerah Tapanuli. Ini sangat potensial sebagai sumber pakai lebah
trigona. Selain itu, teknik budidaya yang relatif sederhana, harga jual dan permintaan yang tinggi juga
merupakan kekuatan dan peluang pengembangan stypro melalui budidaya kemenyan dan lebah trigona
di Tapanuli.

Lebah trigona menghasilkan propolis lebih banyak dibanding lebah lainnya. Lebah ini mudah
beradaptasi, tidak mudah lari, bertubuh kecil dan tidak menggigit (menyengat) sehingga mudah
dipelihara. Jika sumber pakan lebah apis sebagian besar adalah nektar, pakan lebah trigona adalah resin yang relatif tersedia sepanjang tahun di
Tapanuli.

Setiap koloni trigona menghasilkan 30-70 g propolis setiap dua minggu. Sementara madunya dapat dipanen setiap 3 bulan. “Biasanya dari pemasangan
topping, 3 bulan berikutnya bisa panen. Dari setiap stup, panen madunya bisa 1 liter. Kita memanennya menggunakan alat hisap,” jelas Aam
Hasanuddin, S.Hut., teknisi BP2LHK Aek Nauli kepada para peserta media visit yang sangat antusias mencoba menghisap madu dari sarang trigona.

Pemanenan dan pengolahan pasca panen madu trigona jauh lebih sederhana dibanding dengan madu apis. Cukup dengan menggunakan pisau untuk
memanen madu sarang. Sementara untuk memanen propolis, yaitu dengan mengikis propolis di sekitar pintu kayu atau mengambil sarang yang telah
dipanen madu dan polennya.

Informasi detil mengenai lebah madu ini dapat dilihat di galeri lebah BP2LHK Aek Nauli. Disini pengunjung dapat mengamati berbagai macam peralatan
pemanenan lebah madu dan berbagai produk lebah madu. Pengunjung juga akan disuguhi atraksi pemanenan madu lebah serta terlibat langsung dalam
kegiatan pemanenan madu serta mencicip madu hasil panen.

Dari Tapanuli Menuju Jerman

Sebagai produk PUI, stypro ini telah lolos seleksi hilirisasi produk PUI 2019 yang diselenggarakan Direktorat Lembaga Penelitian dan Pengembangan
Kemenristek DIKTI. Oleh karenanya, stypro bersama dengan tobarium ini akan tampil di Indonesia Innovation Day (IID) yang digelar di Jerman, pada
Juni 2019 mendatang.

https://www.forda-mof.org/berita/post/5970-stypro-styrax-propolis-inovasi-dari-aeknauli-beecosystem- 1/6
11/4/2020 Stypro (Styrax Propolis), Inovasi dari Aeknauli Beecosystem

Indonesia Innovation Day merupakan salah satu upaya untuk mendukung peningkatan kapasitas lembaga PUI dengan menampilkan 20 produk litbang
unggul nasional yang potensial dihilirisasi. Produk-produk tersebut hasil kompetisi dari sekitar seratus produk riset yang diikuti oleh hampir seluruh
lembaga PUI. Produk ini lolos seleksi Hilirisasi Produk Unggulan PUI 2019, berdasarkan surat pengumuman Direktur Lembaga Penelitian dan
Pengembangan Kemenristekdikti tanggal 21 Pebruari 2019. Oleh karenanya mendapat kesempatan untuk tampil di ajang internasional tersebut.

Informasi di atas menunjukkan potensi wisata ilmiah yang besar di KHDTK Aek Nauli. Selain atraksi panen propolis dan madu lebah, wisatawan juga
dapat menyaksikan beragam lainnya seperti atraksi penyadapan getah pinus dan kemenyan, atraksi gajah, memanggil siamang dan banyak lagi.
Dengan konsep edutainment, pengunjung dijamin akan merasa sangat terhibur sekaligus teredukasi dengan obyek-obyek wisata ilmiah di kawasan ini.*
(DP)

Informasi lebih lanjut, reservasi atau pemesanan produk:

Koperasi Pengawai Negeri (KPN) Sylva - BP2LHK Aek Nauli
Jln. Raya Parapat Km. 10,5, Desa Sibaganding, Kecamatan Girsang Sipangan Bolon, Kabupaten Simalungun, Sumatera Utara 21174
Kontak person an. Ruth (HP 0813-9785-0441) atau Komala/Yessi (HP 0811-6194-222)

— Penulis : Dyah Puspasari

Ikuti Kami

Follow us:

Berita

Fokus

Berita Litbang

Berita KLHK

Siaran Pers

Newsletter

Publikasi Baru

https://www.forda-mof.org/berita/post/5970-stypro-styrax-propolis-inovasi-dari-aeknauli-beecosystem- 2/6
11/4/2020 Jernang - Wikipedia bahasa Indonesia, ensiklopedia bebas

Jernang
Jernang adalah sejenis resin yang dihasilkan dari beberapa
spesies rotan dari marga Daemonorops. Resin berwarna merah
ini telah sejak lama diperdagangkan dan dimanfaatkan sebagai
bahan pewarna, dupa, dan bahan obat tradisional. Terutama
dihasilkan dari Sumatra dan Kalimantan, sebutannya dalam
berbagai daerah di antaranya adalah jernang, jerenang,
jeranang, jeronang, dan lain-lain.

Dalam bahasa-bahasa asing, resin ini dikenal sebagai dragon Jernang dari Daemonorops draco,
blood atau dragon's blood (Ingg.); drakenbloed (Bld.); sangre de gerusan halus (kiri) dan resin beku
drago (Prc.); sanguis draconis, dan lain-lain[1]. Dalam pada itu, (kanan)
di luar Indonesia, dragon's blood juga diperoleh dari
tetumbuhan lain selain rotan jernang; dari Timur Tengah, Asia
Tenggara, dan Amerika Selatan[2][3].

Daftar isi
Pengertian
Sifat-sifat
Pemanfaatan dan produksi
Referensi

Pengertian
Jernang diperoleh dari lapisan lilin (resin) yang melindungi Rotan jernang Daemonorops draco,
pelat botani dari Kohler (1897)
buah-buah muda dari beberapa spesies rotan Daemonorops.
Jenis-jenis rotan penghasil jernang itu di antaranya[4][5]:

Daemonorops didymophylla Becc.

Daemonorops draco Blume
Daemonorops draconcellus Becc.
Daemonorops mattanensis Becc.
Daemonorops micracanthus Becc.
Daemonorops micranthus Becc.
Daemonorops motleyi Becc.
Daemonorops propinquus Becc.
Daemonorops rubra (Reinw. ex Blume) Mart.
Daemonorops sabut Becc.

dan juga,

Calamus rotang L.

Sifat-sifat
https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jernang 1/2
11/4/2020 Jernang - Wikipedia bahasa Indonesia, ensiklopedia bebas

Jernang merupakan resin beku yang keras dan padat, merah, dengan struktur amorf, larut dalam
alkohol, minyak lemak dan minyak esensial. BJnya antara 1,18-1,20, dengan bilangan asam yang
rendah dan bilangan ester sekitar 140; titik didihnya 120°C.[4]

Komponen kimia utama jernang adalah resin ester dan dracoresinotannol. Ia mengandung
dracoresen, dracoalban, resin tak terlarut, residu, asam benzoat, asam benzoilasetat.[6]. Juga
dracohodin, dan beberapa jenis pigmen seperti nordracorhodin dan nordracorubin[4][7].

Pemanfaatan dan produksi

Jernang secara tradisional dimanfaatkan sebagai bahan obat. Di samping itu, jernang dimanfaatkan
sebagai bahan pewarna untuk mengecat barang-barang pernis, dahulu dan sekarang; meskipun
sekarang tidak lagi sebanyak dulu pemanfaatannya. Beberapa barang seni dan kerajinan masih
menggunakan pewarna ini, misalnya untuk mempernis biola.[2]

Ekspor terbesar jernang adalah dari Indonesia; yang rata-rata mengekspor lebih dari 50 ton
pertahun di antara 1988-93, dengan puncaknya sebanyak 90 ton pada tahun 1991. Data penggunaan
dalam negeri Indonesia tidak diketahui, sehingga tidak diketahui pula perkiraan produksi total dari
tahun ke tahun.[2]

Referensi
1. ^ H , K. 1922. De Nuttige Planten van Nederlandsch-Indië tevens synthetische catalogus der
verzamelingen van het Museum voor Economische Botanie te Buitenzorg. d. I: 354 (http://archive.
org/stream/denuttigeplanten1922heyn#page/354/mode/2up). Batavia: Ruygrok.
2. ^ a b c C , J.J.W. 1995. Gums, resins and latexes of plant origin. In: Non-Wood Forest
Products (FAO), no. 6 (http://www.fao.org/docrep/V9236E/V9236e07.htm). Forest Products Div.,
FAO, Rome (Italy). 141 p.
3. ^ P , J. 2002. Dragons Blood. The Horticulturist, 11(2) Spring 2002: 10-12 (http://www.kew.
org/science/ecbot/papers/pearson2002dragon.pdf).
4. ^ a b c M F. 2007. Guideline on Harvesting and Extraction Techniques of Dragon Blood (http://pus
taka.rotanindonesia.org/Guideline%20on%20Harvesting%20and%20Extraction%20Techniques%
20of%20Dragon%20Blood.pdf). Development of Sustainable Rattan Production and Utilization
through Participation of Rattan Smallholders and Industry in Indonesia (Project). Ministry of
Forestry, Republic of Indonesia, Jakarta.
5. ^ D , J. N. M (Editors). Rattans. Plant Resources of South-East Asia
(PROSEA) 6: 108 (http://books.google.co.id/books?id=7PTORW2roBoC&pg=PA108). Bogor:
Prosea Foundation.
6. ^ G , M. 2006. Dragon's Blood (http://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/d/dragon20.html).
Botanical.com: A modern herbal. Diakses 06/V/2013
7. ^ G , D., B. B , R.K. G . 2008. Dragon’s blood: Botany, chemistry and
therapeutic uses. J. Ethnopharmacology 115 (2008): 361–380 (http://dspace.ipu.edu:8080/xmlui/b
itstream/handle/1/145/DeepikaGuptaETP115.pdf?sequence=1)

Diperoleh dari "https://id.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jernang&oldid=15563133"

Halaman ini terakhir diubah pada 10 September 2019, pukul 18.50.

Teks tersedia di bawah Lisensi Atribusi-BerbagiSerupa Creative Commons; ketentuan tambahan mungkin berlaku. Lihat
Ketentuan Penggunaan untuk lebih jelasnya.

https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jernang 2/2
 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

Journal of Ethnopharmacology 115 (2008) 361–380

Review

Dragon’s blood: Botany, chemistry and therapeutic uses

Deepika Gupta a , Bruce Bleakley b , Rajinder K. Gupta a,∗
a
University School of Biotechnology, GGS Indraprastha University, K. Gate, Delhi 110006, India
b Department of Biology & Microbiology, South Dakota State University, Brookings, South Dakota 57007, USA
Received 25 May 2007; received in revised form 10 October 2007; accepted 11 October 2007
Available online 22 October 2007

Abstract
Dragon’s blood is one of the renowned traditional medicines used in different cultures of world. It has got several therapeutic uses: haemostatic,
antidiarrhetic, antiulcer, antimicrobial, antiviral, wound healing, antitumor, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, etc. Besides these medicinal applica-
tions, it is used as a coloring material, varnish and also has got applications in folk magic. These red saps and resins are derived from a number of
disparate taxa. Despite its wide uses, little research has been done to know about its true source, quality control and clinical applications. In this
review, we have tried to overview different sources of Dragon’s blood, its source wise chemical constituents and therapeutic uses. As well as, a
little attempt has been done to review the techniques used for its quality control and safety.
© 2007 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Dragon’s blood; Croton; Dracaena; Daemonorops; Pterocarpus; Therapeutic uses

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
1.1. Mythology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
1.2. Historical uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
1.3. Ethnomedicinal uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
2. Sources of Dragon’s blood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
2.1. Croton spp. (Euphorbiaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
2.1.1. Chemical constituents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
2.1.2. Bioactivities and therapeutic uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
2.2. Daemonorops spp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
2.2.1. Chemical constituents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
2.2.2. Bioactivities and therapeutic uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
2.3. Dracaena spp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
2.3.1. Chemical constituents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
2.3.2. Bioactivities and therapeutic uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
2.4. Pterocarpus spp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
3. Quality control and safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
4. Conservation needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
5. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376

∗ Corresponding author. Mobile: +91 9871263252; fax: +91 11 23865941/2.

E-mail address: rkg67ap@yahoo.com (R.K. Gupta).

0378-8741/$ – see front matter © 2007 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jep.2007.10.018
362 D. Gupta et al. / Journal of Ethnopharmacology 115 (2008) 361–380
1. Introduction
Plants are used worldwide for the treatment of diseases and
novel drugs continue to be developed through research from
these plants. There are more than 20,000 species of higher plant,
used in traditional medicines and are reservoirs of potential new
drugs. As the modern medicine and drug research advanced,
chemically synthesized drugs replaced plants as the source of
most medicinal agents in industrialized countries. Nevertheless
plants are an important source of lead compounds. However, in
developing countries, the majority of the world’s population can-
not afford pharmaceutical drugs and use their own plant based
indigenous medicines.
Dragon’s blood is a deep red resin, which has been used
as a famous traditional medicine since ancient times by many
cultures. The term “Dragon’s blood” refers to reddish resinous
products, usually encountered as granules, powder, lumps or
sticks used in folk medicine. Dragon’s blood has been used for
diverse medical and artistic applications. It has astringent effect
and has been used as a hemostatic and antidiarrhetic drug.
The origin of Dragon’s blood is believed to be from Indian
Ocean island of Socotra, now part of Yemen (Angiosperm
Phylogeny Group, 1974). However, there exists a great degree
of confusion regarding the source and identity of Dragon’s
blood. Several alternative sources of Dragon’s blood from
Canary Islands, Madeira, and South East Asia and also from
East and West Africa have been identified (Alexander and
Miller, 1995). Dragon’s blood was a name applied to many
red resins described in the medical literature, e.g. East Indian
Dragon’s blood (from the fruit of Daemonorops draco (Willd.)
Blume), Socotran or Zanzibar Dragon’s blood (exudates of
Dracaena cinnabari Balf. f.), Canary Dragon’s blood (exudates
formed from incisions of the trunk of Dracaena draco (L.) L.),
West Indian Dragon’s blood (exudates of Pterocarpus draco
L.), Mexican Dragon’s blood (resin of Croton lechleri Müll.
Arg.) and the Venezuelan Dragon’s blood (resin of Croton
gossypifolium Vahl) (Sollman, 1920).
Mabberley (1998) suggests that Dragon’s blood was pro-
duced originally from Dracaena cinnabari, later from Dracaena
draco and more recently from Daemonorops spp. Zheng et
al. (2004a,b,c) confirms this view and suggests Pterocar-
pus spp., Daemonorops draco and Croton spp. as substitutes
for Dracaena spp. Thus, the term “Dragon’s blood” in gen-
eral is used for all kinds of resins and saps obtained from
four distinct plant genera; Croton (Euphorbiaceae), Dracaena
(Dracaenaceae), Daemonorops (Palmaceae), and Pterocarpus
(Fabaceae).
1.1. Mythology
According to a Greek myth, Landon, the hundred-headed
dragon, guardian of the Garden of the Hesperides (the nymph
daughters of Atlas, the titan who holds up earth and heaven)
was killed by either Hercules (in his quest) or Atlas (as punish-
ment) while bringing back three golden apples from the garden,
depending upon the version of the myth. Landon’s red blood
flowed out upon the land and from it sprung up the trees known
as “Dragon Trees” (The Eleventh Labor of Hercules: The Apples
of The Hesperides).
Dragon’s blood was also called “Indian cinnabar” by Greeks
writers. The name “Dragon’s blood” dates back to the 1st cen-
tury AD when a Greek sailor wrote, about an island called
Dioscorida where the trees yielded drops of cinnabar, in a ship-
ping manual “Periplus of the Erythrean Sea”. Plinius (1601) also
described that the resin got its name from an Indian legend based
on Brahma and Shiva. Emboden (1974) and Lyons (1974) had
also summarized the history and mythology of Dragon’s blood.
According to Lyons, the struggle between a dragon and an ele-
phant that, at its climax, led to the mixing of the blood of the
two creatures resulted in a magical substance, “Dragon’s blood”
imbued with medicinal properties.
1.2. Historical uses
The crimson red resin was highly prized in the ancient world.
Dragon’s blood (Dracaena cinnabari) was used as a dye and
medicine in the Mediterranean basin. Miller and Morris (1988)
mention use of Dracaena resin as a coloring matter for varnishes,
tinctures, toothpastes, plaster, and for dying horn to make it look
like tortoiseshell. Mabberley (1998) also notes that resinous sap
produced via incisions in the bark or stem of the Dracaena
cinnabari was used by the Ancients to stain horn to resem-
ble tortoiseshell. People in Socotra used resin from Dracaena
cinnabari for dying wool, glue pottery, breath freshener, to dec-
orate pottery and houses and even as lipstick (Alexander and
Miller, 1996). Due to the belief that it is the blood of the mythi-
cal animal, the dragon, it is also used in alchemy and for ritual
magic.
Dragon’s blood from both Dracaena and Daemonorops were
also used for ceremonies in India. Sometimes Dracaena resin,
but more often Daemonorops resin, was used in China as red
varnish for wooden furniture. These resins were used to color
the surface of writing paper for banners and posters, used espe-
cially for weddings and for Chinese New Year. These red resins
were also used as pigment in paint, enhancing the color of
precious stones and staining glass, marble and the wood for
Italian violins. Fulling (1953) reported that Daemonorops resin
was used in the preparation of drawings. Powdered forms of
Daemonorops resin were used extensively as an acid resist by
photoengravers during the 1930s (Pankow, 1988). In modern
times Daemonorops resin is still used as a varnish for violins,
in photoengraving, as an incense resin, and as body oil. Dae-
monorops resin is also added to red ink to make “Dragon’s
Blood Ink,” which is used to inscribe magical seals and
talismans.
Spanish naturalist and explorer P. Bernabé Cobo (1956)
recorded for the first time that Croton’s sap was used widely
throughout the indigenous tribes of Mexico, Peru, and Ecuador
in 1600s. In African-American folk magic or voodoo this
resin is used in mojo hands for money-drawing or love-
drawing, and is used as incense to cleanse a space of negative
entities or influences. In neopagan witchcraft, it is used to
increase the potency of spells for protection, love, banishing and
sexuality.
 D. Gupta et al. / Journal of Ethnopharmacology 115 (2008) 361–380
1.3. Ethnomedicinal uses
Dragon’s blood was used by early Greeks, Romans, and
Arabs for its medicinal properties. Locals of Moomy city on
Socotra island used the Dragon’s blood (Dracaena) as a sort
of cure-all, using it for things such as general wound healing,
a coagulant, curing diarrhoea, lowering fevers, dysentery dis-
eases, internal ulcers of mouth, throat, intestines and stomach,
as an antiviral for respiratory and stomach viruses and for skin
disorders such as eczema. Dioscorides and other early Greek
writers described its medicinal uses. Dragon’s blood (Dracaena)
is used for treating dysentery, diarrhoea, hemorrhage and exter-
nal ulcers in Yemeni folk medicine (Milburn, 1984). Dracaena
resin has strong astringent properties and is used as a muscle
relaxant (Milner, 1992). Gerarde and Johnson (1633) stated that
Dragon’s blood (Dracaena) was used for over flow of courses
(menses), in fluxes, dysenteries, spitting of blood and fastening
of loose teeth. It was also used to treat gonorrhea, stoppage of
urine, watery eyes and minor burns (Parkinson, 1640). In China,
the red resin of Dracaena cochinchinensis was used by local
people for treatment of wounds, leucorrhea, fractures, diarrhoea
and piles as well as for intestinal and stomach ulcers (Cai and
Xu, 1979).
Daemonorops resin is also used in traditional Chinese
medicine to stimulate circulation, promote tissue regeneration
by aiding the healing of fractures, sprains and ulcers and to con-
trol bleeding and pain (Bensky and Gamble, 1993). The medical
applications of Dragon’s blood resins, mainly the Daemonorops
resin have been attributed to the presence of benzoic acid, which
show antiseptic properties (Piozzi et al., 1974; Badib, 1991).
Croton’s sap is a common household remedy used in Peru, other
Latin American countries, and among the Latin American pop-
ulation of the United States. Croton’s sap is taken orally to cure
different types of diarrhoea and cholera by the indigenous people
of Amazon basin (Carlson and King, 2000). Other ethnomedi-
cal uses of the sap of Croton lechleri in Peru are found in the
treatment of bone fractures, leucorrhea, piles and hemorrhoids
(Soukup, 1970). Sap of Croton lechleri was also used to speed
up internal healing after an abortion (Castner et al., 1998) and in
vaginal baths taken before childbirth (Duke and Vasquez, 1994).
Croton’s sap has been reviewed by many researchers for its
therapeutic uses (Jones, 2003; Gonzales and Valerio, 2006).
Various therapeutic properties of Dragon’s blood (Croton
spp.) have been described such as wound and ulcer healing,
antidiarrhoeic, anticancer, anti-inflammatory and antirheumatic
properties (Bettolo and Scarpati, 1979; Perdue et al., 1979; Chen
et al., 1994; Pieters et al., 1995; Phillipson, 1995; Gabriel et al.,
1999; Holodniy et al., 1999; Miller et al., 2000).
2. Sources of Dragon’s blood
Dragon’s blood is a bright red resin that is obtained from dif-
ferent species of four distinct plant genera; Croton, Dracaena,
Daemonorops, and Pterocarpus. Table 1 summarizes the differ-
ent botanical sources and common names of Dragon’s blood.
Pearson and Prendergast (2001) have reviewed Dragon’s blood
samples from different sources kept at Royal Botanic Gardens
363
Kew. The Economic Botany Collections at the Royal Botanic
Gardens Kew (curated by the Centre for Economic Botany)
contains perhaps the largest (80 accessions comprising of 34
Dracaena accessions, 40 Daemonorops and 6 Croton) and most
reliably identified assembly of Dragon’s blood resins.
In this review, we discuss chemistry and therapeutic uses of
varieties of Dragon’s blood differentiated according to the plant
taxa from which they are obtained. Structures of some of the
compounds reported from these sources are given in Fig. 1.
2.1. Croton spp. (Euphorbiaceae)
Croton lechleri Müll. Arg., the tree growing in Mexico,
Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil, is possibly the best-known
source for Dragon’s blood. Other species are Croton draconoides
Müll. Arg., Croton draco Schlect & Cham., Croton urucurana
Baill., C. xalapensis Kunth, Croton gossypifolium Vahl, Cro-
ton erythrochilus Müll. Arg. and Croton palanostigma Klotzsch.
When the trunk of the tree is cut or wounded, dark red, sappy
resin oozes out, known as Sangre de Drago (Dragon’s blood).
2.1.1. Chemical constituents
Table 2 summarizes the compounds reported from Dragon’s
blood of Croton spp.
2.1.2. Bioactivities and therapeutic uses
2.1.2.1. Antimicrobial and antiviral activity. Sangre de Drago
(Croton) has been evaluated as a source of potential chemother-
apeutic agents based on its ethnomedicinal uses. Chen et al.
(1994) had studied the antibacterial properties of blood-red sap
of Croton lechleri from Ecuador and reported compounds 2, 4, 6-
trimethoxyphenol, 1, 3, 5-trimethoxybenzene, crolechinic acid
and korberins A and B present in the sap to exhibit antibacterial
activity individually.
The aqueous ethanol extract, some fractions of the methanol
extract, catechin and acetyl aleuritolic acid of Sangre de Drago
obtained from Croton urucurana are reported to show inhibition
of Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella typhimurium (Peres
et al., 1997). Later, Gurgel et al. (2005) reported in vitro antifun-
gal activity of Sangre de Drago from Croton urucurana, which
could be due to the presence of catechins like gallocatechin and
epigallocatechin. Antiviral properties of Croton’s sap have also
been evaluated. Extracts of Sangre de Drago have been reported
to have antiviral activity against influenza, parainfluenza, Her-
pes simplex viruses I and II, and Hepatitis A and B (Chen et
al., 1994; Ubillas et al., 1994; Sidwell et al., 1994; Meza, 1999).
SP-303 from Croton’s sap is the most studied constituent for its
antiviral activity (Wyde et al., 1991, 1993; Barnard et al., 1992;
Soike et al., 1992; Gilbert et al., 1993). SP-303 has shown in
vitro activity against Herpes simplex viruses (HSV-1 and HSV-
2), inhibition of thymidine kinase mutants of the viruses, and
pronounced activity against acyclovir-resistant strains (Barnard
et al., 1993; Safrin et al., 1993; Ubillas et al., 1994). Clini-
cal studies of SP-303 have also been done on AIDS patients
(Orozco-Topete et al., 1997). Sethi (1977) reported taspine to
inhibit reverse transcriptase enzyme in cultures of several tumor
viruses.
364 D. Gupta et al. / Journal of Ethnopharmacology 115 (2008) 361–380

Table 1
Botanical sources and common names of Dragon’s blood
Species Plant family Geographical origin Vernacular names

Croton spp. Euphorbiaceae Tropics and subtropics Sangre de draco (Venezuela), Dragon’s blood
worldwide Croton, Arleiia, Ian huiqui (Ecuador), Yawar
gradwascca (Peru), Sangre de Drago/Grado
Croton draco Schltdl. & Cham.
Croton lechleri Müll. Arg.
Croton draconoides Müll. Arg.
Croton urucurana Baill.
C. xalapensis Kunth
Croton gossypifolium Vahl
Croton erythrochilus Müll. Arg.
Croton palanostigma Klotzsch
Daemonorops spp. Palmaceae South East Asia Jerang or Djerang (Indonesia), Longxuejie
(China), Draconis Resina and Sanguis
draconis (Sumatra), Kirin-kakketsu (Japan)
Daemonorops draco (Willd) Blume
D. didymophylla Becc.
D. micracantha (Griff.) Becc.
D. motleyi Becc.
D. rubra (Reinw. ex Blume) Blume
D. propinqua Becc.
Dracaena spp. Dracaenaceae Socotra, Canary Islands, Zanzibar drop
Madeira, East Africa
D. cinnabari Balf. f.
D. cochinchinensis (Lour.) S.C. Chen
Dracaena draco (L.) L.
Pterocarpus spp. Fabaceae West Indies and South East India kino, Malabar kino, Kino gum,
America Guadaloupe Dragon’s blood, Padauk
P. officinalis Jacq.

2.1.2.2. Antitumor and cytotoxic activity. There are various
reports showing Sangre de Drago (Croton) to exhibit cytotox-
icity. Guerrero and Guzmán (2004) carried out brine shrimp
lethality test (BSLT) to check the cytotoxicity of Croton lechleri.
Croton lechleri sap has been reported to be used for treatment of
cancer by many researchers (Hartwell, 1969; Pieters et al., 1992;
Cai et al., 1993a,b). Recently, Gonzales and Valerio (2006) have
reviewed Croton lechleri for its anticancer activity.
A number of compounds isolated from Sangre de Drago
(Croton) are found to show cytotoxicity. Taspine from Croton
lechleri sap has shown potent activity against KB and V-79 cells,
while flavan-3-ols and proanthocyanidins, which are the major
components of the sap, are not cytotoxic (Itokawa et al., 1991;
Chen et al., 1994). Compound 3 , 4-O-dirnethylcedrusin from
Croton spp. was found not to stimulate cell proliferation, but
rather protected cells against degradation in a starvation medium
(Pieters et al., 1993). Chen et al. (1994) proposed that antitu-
mor activity of Croton’s sap might be because of mechanisms
other than cytotoxicity such as immunostimulation. Antiprolif-
erative effect of latex of Croton lechleri was also determined
in vitro on the human myelogenous leukemia K562 cells line
(Rossi et al., 2003). Peres et al. (1997) have reported use of
Croton urucurana against cancer. Croton draco is also used to
treat cancer (Gupta et al., 1996). Latex of Croton draconoides
and Croton erythrochilus are also reported to be used against
cancer (Piacente et al., 1998). Sandoval et al. (2002) evalu-
ated the effects of Sangre de Drago (Croton palanostigma) on
human cancer cells, AGS (stomach), HT29 and T84 (colon) and
reported induction of apoptosis, and microtubular damages in
these cell lines.
2.1.2.3. Antihemorrhagic activity. Castro et al. (1999) investi-
gated the activity of organic extracts of Croton draco against
hemorrhagic activity induced by the venom of the snake Both-
rops asper. Total inhibition of hemorrhage was observed,
probably owing to the chelation of zinc required for the catalytic
activity of venom’s hemorrhagic metalloproteinases. Aqueous
extracts of Croton urucurana antagonized the hemorrhagic
activity of the venom of Bothrops jararaca and proantho-
cyanidins were involved in this activity (Esmeraldino et al.,
2005).
2.1.2.4. Immunomodulatory activity. The human immune
response is a highly complex system involving both innate and
adaptive mechanisms. A biological or pharmacological effect
of compounds on humoral or cellular aspects of the immune
response is referred as immunomodulating activity. Risco et
al. (2003) determined immunomodulatory activity of Sangre de
Drago from Croton lechleri in vitro and found that it exhibited a
potent inhibitory activity on classical (CP) and alternative (AP)
pathways of complement system and inhibited the proliferation
of activated T-cells.
 D. Gupta et al. / Journal of Ethnopharmacology 115 (2008) 361–380 365

Tsacheva et al. (2004) evaluated latex of Croton draco, its
extracts and several latex components (flavonoid myricitrin, the
alkaloid taspine and the cyclopeptides P1 and P2) for their influ-
ence on both CP and AP activation pathways of the complement
system using a hemolytic assay and the best inhibition was found
for the classical pathway.
2.1.2.5. Antiulcer and antidiarrhoeal activity. There are
reports showing potent antiulcer and antidiarrhoeal activity of
Sangre de Drago (Croton). The extracts from Croton species
have been shown to impair the capsaicin-stimulated ion trans-
port across guinea pig ileum when added to the serosal bath
in Ussing chambers and thus may prove to be a cost-effective
treatment for gastrointestinal ulcers (Miller et al., 2000). Use of
latex of Croton lechleri has also been reported in the treatment
of different types of diarrhoea (Ubillas et al., 1994; Carlson
and King, 2000). SP-303, a heterogeneous proanthocyanidin
oligomer of Croton lechleri was found to inhibit in vivo cholera
toxin-induced fluid secretion and in vitro cAMP-mediated Cl−
secretion and thus may provide a useful broad-spectrum antidiar-
rhoeal agent (Gabriel et al., 1999). Evaluation of safety and
efficacy of orally administered SP-303 was done for the symp-

Fig. 1. Structure of some of the compounds reported from different sources of Dragon’s bloods.
366 D. Gupta et al. / Journal of Ethnopharmacology 115 (2008) 361–380
Fig. 1. (Continued )
tomatic treatment of diarrhoea in travelers (DiCesare et al.,
2002) and in AIDS patients (Holodniy et al., 1999; Koch et al.,
1999; Koch, 2000). Fischer et al. (2004) derived a novel extract
SB-300 from Croton lechleri that inhibited cAMP-regulated
chloride secretion, mediated by the cystic fibrosis transmem-
brane conductance regulator Cl− channel (CFTR) in human
colonic T84 cells and may prove to be a potent antidiarrhoeal
agent. Rozhon et al. (1998) have a patent on the use of proan-
thocyanidin polymer from Croton species as an antidiarrhoeal,
which was issued to Shaman Pharmaceuticals, Inc. USA. The
company has products based on extract from Croton lech-
leri sap in the market, named as NSF and NSF-1B, claiming
“clinically demonstrated relief from diarrhoea that won’t cause
constipation.”
Gurgel et al. (2001) evaluated antidiarrhoeal activity of
red sap obtained from Croton urucurana on castor oil-
induced diarrhoea in rats, cholera toxin-induced intestinal
secretion in mice and on small intestinal transit in mice
and suggested potential utility of the red sap from Cro-
ton urucurana in controlling secretory diarrhoea associated
diseases.
2.1.2.6. Analgesic activity. Peres et al. (1998a) isolated several
compounds showing analgesic activity, namely campesterol,
sitosterol, stigmasterol, acetyl aleuritolic acid, catechin, gallo-
catechin and sitosterol glucoside from Croton urucurana and
suggested existence of more potent analgesic compounds or
existence of a synergistic effect.
2.1.2.7. Antioxidative activity. Desmarchelier et al. (1997) sug-
gested that Sangre de Drago (Croton lechleri) is highly effective
in scavenging peroxyl and hydroxyl radicals at high concen-
trations. However, prooxidant activity was observed at lower
concentrations. When administered to mice subcutaneously,
latex of Peruvian Croton lechleri inhibited hepatic lipid peroxi-
dation but only at concentration of 200 mg/kg in the livers of the
animals; higher concentrations showed toxicity (Desmarchelier
and de Moraes Barros, 2003).
Later, Risco et al. (2003) reported that depending upon
the concentration, latex of Croton lechleri showed antioxi-
dant or prooxidant properties, and stimulated or inhibited the
phagocytosis. Lopes et al. (2004) also evaluated antioxidant
activity of Croton lechleri sap against the yeast Saccha-
 D. Gupta et al. / Journal of Ethnopharmacology 115 (2008) 361–380 367

Fig. 1. (Continued )

romyces cerevisiae and against maize plantlets treated with
the oxidative agents, apomorphine and hydrogen peroxide and
found that sap inhibited the cytotoxic effect of the alkaloid
apomorphine in haploid yeast cultures as well as in maize
plantlets.
2.1.2.8. Anti-inflammatory activity. In a study on edema in rats,
Perdue et al. (1979) reported, for the first time, anti-inflammatory
activity of alkaloid taspine isolated from Croton latex. Later,
Miller et al. (2001) concluded from a series of studies that the
Croton sap inhibits neurogenic inflammation by directly block-
368 D. Gupta et al. / Journal of Ethnopharmacology 115 (2008) 361–380

Fig. 1. (Continued )
 D. Gupta et al. / Journal of Ethnopharmacology 115 (2008) 361–380 369

Fig. 1. (Continued ).

ing sensory afferent nerve activation at both the prejunctional
and postjunctional level. The latex from Croton lechleri has
strong anti-inflammatory activity when administered i.p. (Risco
et al., 2003).
2.1.2.9. Mutagenic and antimutagenic activity. The mutagenic
and antimutagenic activity of Croton lechieri sap was exam-
ined through the Ames/Salmonella test and no mutagenicity of
2-aminoanthracene was found in the Salmonella typhimurium
strains T98 and T100 (Rossi et al., 2003). Later, Lopes et al.
(2004) reported mutagenic activity of Croton lechieri sap for
strain TA1535 of Salmonella typhimurium in the presence of
metabolic activation, a weak mutagenic activity for strain TA98
and in a haploid Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain XV185-14c
for the lys1-1, his1-7 locus-specific reversion and hom3-10
frameshift mutations.
2.1.2.10. Wound healing activity. Sangre de Drago (Croton) is
commonly used as liquid bandage in the Amazon (Jones, 1995,
2003). Vaisberg et al. (1989) reported a significant increase
370 D. Gupta et al. / Journal of Ethnopharmacology 115 (2008) 361–380

Table 2
Chemical constituents reported from Croton spp.
Compound name Bioactivity References

Croton draco Schltdl. & Cham.

1-Hydroxyjunenol; 2,3-dihydrovomifoliol; 3,4,5-tri Murillo et al. (2001)
methoxycinnamyl alcohol; 9(11)-dehydrokaurenic
acid; 9-dehydrovomifoliol; hardwikiic acid;
p-hydroxybenzal-dehyde; p-methoxybenzoic acid;
scopoletin; taspine (1)
Croton urucurana Baill.
Sonderianin (2) Antibacterial activity Craveiro and Silveira (1982), Peres et al. (1997,
1998b)
Acetyl aleuritolic acid Antibacterial activity, Analgesic Peres et al. (1997, 1998a)
activity
␤-Sitosterol; ␤-sitosterol-O-glucoside; campesterol; Analgesic activity
catechin; gallocatechin; stigmasterol
12-Epi-methyl-barabascoate (3); Peres et al. (1998b)
15,16-epoxy-3,13(16)-clerodatriene-2-one (4)
Fucoarabinogalactan (CU-1) Milo et al. (2002)
Croton lechleri Müll. Arg.
Taspine (1) Anti-inflammatory activity, wound Perdue et al. (1979), Vaisberg et al. (1989),
healing activity, cytotoxic activity Itokawa et al. (1991), Pieters et al. (1993),
Porras-Reyes et al. (1993), Chen et al. (1994),
Milanowski et al. (2002)
3 ,4-O-Dimethylcedrusin (7) Wound healing activity, inhibition of Pieters et al. (1990, 1992, 1993, 1995)
cell proliferation
Procyanidin B-1 and B-4 (27) Cai et al. (1991)
Catechin; epigallocatechin; epicatechin; gallocatechin Cai et al. (1991), Chen et al. (1994)
Catechin (4-␣-8)-gallocatechin (4-␣-6) gallocatechin; Cai et al. (1991), Phillipson (1995)
catechin (4-␣-8)-gallocatechin (4-␣-8)-gallocatechin;
gallocatechin (4-␣-6)-epigallocatechin; gallocatechin
(4-␣-8)-epi-catechin; gallocatechin
(4-␣-8)-gallocatechin (4-␣-8)-epi-gallocatechin
Benzofuran-5-yl,2-3-dihydro:2-(3-dimethoxy-phenyl) Pieters et al. (1992)
7-methoxy-3-methoxy-carbonyl-propan-1-oic acid
methyl ester; benzofuran-5-yl,2-3-dihydro:2-(4-
hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-7-methoxy-3-methoxy-
carbonyl-propen-1-oic acid methyl
ester
␤-Sitosterol; bincatriol; crolechinol (10); crolechinic acid Cai et al. (1993a), Chen et al. (1994)
(11); daucosterol; hardwickiic acid
1,3,5-Trimethoxybenzene Cytotoxic activity, antibacterial
activity
2,4,6-Trimethoxyphenol Antibacterial activity
3,4-Dimethoxybenzyl alcohol; 3,4-dimethoxy phenol; Cai et al. (1993a)
4-hydroxyphenethyl alcohol and its acetate;
␤-sitostenone; sitosterol-␤-d-glucopyranoside
Korberin A (5); korberin B (6) Antibacterial activity Cai et al. (1993b), Chen et al. (1994)
4-O-Methylcedrusin (8) Pieters et al. (1993)
SP-303 (MW = 2200 Da) Antiviral activity Ubillas et al. (1994), Sidwell et al. (1994)
Catechin-(4-␣-8)-epigallocatechin Phillipson (1995)
Ethyl acetate; ethyl propionate; 2-methyl butanol; Bellesia et al. (1996)
2-methylbutyl acetate; propyl acetate; 3-methybutyl
acetate; eucalyptol; 1-butyl acetate;
3-methyl-2-pentanol
Isoboldine (13); norisoboldine (12); magnoflorine (14) Milanowski et al. (2002)
SB-300 (MW = 3000 Da) Antidiarrhoeal activity Fischer et al. (2004)

in the rate of wound repair on topical application of the Cro-
ton lechleri sap to skin wounds of mice and found taspine as
the cicatrizant (wound healing) principle. A significant increase
in numbers of migrating cells in an in vitro test for wound-
ing of human fibroblasts also suggested role of taspine for
wound healing (Vaisberg et al., 1989). From the sap of Peru-
vian Sangre de Drago (Croton sp.), a lignan known as 3 ,
4-O-dimethylcedrusin was isolated which protected endothe-
lial cells from undergoing degradation in a starvation medium
and stimulated endothelial cells, however at high concentra-
tions it inhibited the cell proliferation (Pieters et al., 1992,
1993). Porras-Reyes et al. (1993) performed a number of tests
 D. Gupta et al. / Journal of Ethnopharmacology 115 (2008) 361–380
to determine how taspine accelerated wound healing and found
that taspine enhanced wound healing via increased fibroblast
migration.
Chen et al. (1994) studied the wound healing activity of Cro-
ton lechieri sap and concluded that several factors—the ability to
form a film that protects against microbial invasion of wounds;
free radical scavenging activity of procyanidins; the high content
of polyphenolics capable of binding proteins and enzymes; and
the anti-inflammatory and strong antibacterial action of polyphe-
nols, together facilitating improved healing of damaged tissue,
may contribute to the wound repairing properties of sap. They
tested individual constituents of the sap and found endothelial
cell proliferation was increased by Procyanidin B-4 and most
potently by (−)-epigallocatechin and (+)-gallocatechin. Lewis
et al. (1992) has patented for taspine in DMSO (solvent), which
healed wounds faster than DMSO alone.
2.2. Daemonorops spp.
Dragon’s blood resin is also obtained as deep red teardrop-
shaped lumps, separated physically from the immature fruit of
the South-East Asian rattan- or cane-palm, Daemonorops of
the Indonesian islands. The botanical source was previously
identified as Calamus draco Willd. (Daemonorops draco Willd.
Blume) by Barry et al. (1926), who also described the resinous
layer as being isolated by placing the fruits in sacks and pounding
them and the pulp being treated with boiling water. Subsequently
the resin was kneaded into balls or long sticks. Various grades
have been identified by Howes (1949). Other species as source of
resin are D. didymophylla Becc., D. micracantha (Griff.) Becc.,
D. motleyi Becc., D. rubra (Reinw. ex Blume) Blume and D.
propinqua Becc.
2.2.1. Chemical constituents
Table 3 summarizes the compounds reported from resin of
Daemonorops draco (Willd.) Blume.
2.2.2. Bioactivities and therapeutic uses
2.2.2.1. Antimicrobial and antiviral activity. Previously,
Mitscher et al. (1972) reported in vitro activity of commercial
resin obtained from Daemonorops draco against Staphylococ-
cus aureus and Mycobacterium smegmatis. This led to further
evaluation of resin’s components exhibiting antimicrobial
activity. Rao et al. (1982) reported that the antimicrobial
activity of the resin from Daemonorops draco was due to the
presence of compounds Dracorhodin and Dracorubin. These
compounds were found to be active against Staphylococcus
aureus (ATCC 13709), Klebsiella pneumoniae (ATCC 10031),
Mycobacterium smegmafis (ATCC 607) and Candida albicans
(ATCC 10231).
2.2.2.2. Antitumor and cytotoxic activity. Dracorhodin per-
chlorate, a synthetic analogue of Dracorhodin, red pigment
isolated from exudates of the fruit of Daemonorops draco,
has been reported to induce human melanoma A375-S2 cell
and human premyelocytic leukemia HL-60 cell death through
the apoptotic pathway (Xia et al., 2005, 2006). M. Xia et al.
371
(2004), M.Y. Xia et al. (2004), also studied the mechanism
of Dracorhodin perchlorate induced apoptosis and concluded
that Dracorhodin perchlorate induced cell death via alteration
of Bax/Bcl-XL ratio and activation of caspases.
2.2.2.3. Hemostatic and antithrombotic activity. Daemonorops
draco has been studied for its ‘hemostatic’ and ‘vasoactive–
antithrombotic’ activity in Chinese medicinal system (Kiangsu
Institute of Modern Medicine, 1977). Studies have provided
evidences that (2S)-5-methoxy-6-methyl-flavan-7-ol (MMF)
possess antiplatelet activity (Tsai et al., 1995). Later, under-
lying mechanism for antiplatelet activity of MMF was related
to inhibition of thromboxane formation via the inhibition of
cyclooxygenase and suppression of [Ca2+ ]i (intraplatelet Ca2+ )
increase (Tsai et al., 1998).
2.3. Dracaena spp.
The name Dracaena is derived from the Greek word
‘drakainia’ meaning a female dragon (Stern, 1992). The most
striking source is the Dracaena cinnabari Balf. f. which is
endemic to the island of Socotra (Yemen) west of Somalia. Pal-
inurus, a survey ship of Leut. J.R. Wellsted of the East India
Company gave first description of the Dragon’s blood tree, Dra-
caena cinnabari, calling it Pterocarpus draco (http://www.rbg-
web2.rbge.org.uk/soqotra/history/page07.html) while under-
taking a survey of Socotra for the Indian Government in 1835.
However, the species was first named and described by the Scot-
tish botanist Sir lsaac Bailey Balfour when he visited the island
in 1880 (Balfour, 1888). Three grades of Dracaena resin were
identified by Balfour (1883), the most valuable being tear-like
in appearance, followed by one made of small chips and frag-
ments, and the cheapest being a molten mixture of fragments
and refuse.
Voyagers to the Canary Islands in the 15th century obtained
Dragon’s blood as dried garnet colored drops from another
species Dracaena draco (L.) L., a native to the Canary Islands
and Morocco. The canarian dragon tree Dracaena draco was
first described in 1402 (Boutier and Le Verrier, 1872). The resin
is exuded from the wounded trunk or branches of the tree. Dra-
caena cochinchinensis (Lour.) S.C. Chen is another species used
in China as source of Dragon’s blood.
2.3.1. Chemical constituents
Table 4 summarizes the compounds reported from Dracaena
spp., used as source of Dragon’s blood.
2.3.2. Bioactivities and therapeutic uses
2.3.2.1. Antimicrobial and antiviral activity. Mothana and
Lindequist (2005) reported antimicrobial activity of chloro-
form and methanol extract of Dracaena cinnabari resin from
island Soqotra against Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 6538),
Bacillus subtilis (ATCC 6059), Micrococcus flavus (SBUG
16) and Escherichia coli (ATCC 11229). Kumar et al. (2006)
also reported antimicrobial activity of exudes of red resin
of Dracaena cinnabari collected from India against Bacil-
lus cereus var mycoides (ATCC 11778), Bacillus pumilus
372 D. Gupta et al. / Journal of Ethnopharmacology 115 (2008) 361–380
Table 3
Chemical constituents reported from Daemonorops draco (Willd.) Blume
Compound name Bioactivity
Dracorhodin (17) Apoptic activity
2,4-Dihydroxy-5-methyl-6-methoxychalcone;
2,4-dihydroxy-6-methoxychalcone;
5-methoxy-7-hydroxyflavan (15)
Nordracorhodin (16); nordracorubin (18)
(2S) 5-Methoxy-6-methylflavan-7-ol (21) Antiplatelet effects
(2S)-5-Methoxyflavan-7-ol (22);
5,7-dimethoxy-6-methylflavan
Abietic acid; dehydroabietic acid; isopimaric acid; pimaric
acid; sandaracopimaric acid
Secobiflavanoid
Dracorubin (19)
Polysaccharide (MW = 25,000) Anticoagulant activity
Dracoalban; dracoresene; dracoresinotannol
Dammaradienol Antiviral activity, Anti-inflammatory
activity, cytotoxic activity
Dracooxepine
Dracoflavan A
2,4-Dimethoxy-3-methylphenol; dracoflavan B1; B2; C1; Anti-inflammatory activity
C2; D1; D2
1,6-Germacradien-5-ol; benzoic acid; bicyclogermacrene;
cis-9,10-dihydrocapsenone; germacrene-d; ␣-copaene;
␣-cubebene; ␣-humulene; ␤-caryophyllene; ␤-cubebene;
␤-elemene; ␦-cadinene
4,6-Dihydroxy-2-methoxy-3-methyldihydrochalcone
(ATCC 14884), Bacillus subtilis (ATCC 6633), Bordetella bron-
chiseptica (ATCC 4617), Micrococcus luteus (ATCC 9341),
Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 29737), Staphylococcus epider-
midis (ATCC 12228), Klebsiella pneumoniae (ATCC 10031),
Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 9027), Streptococcus faecalis
(MTCC 8043), and Aspergillus niger (MTCC 1344). Recently,
Mothana et al. (2006) also reported antiviral activity of methanol
extract of resin of Dracaena cinnabari against Herpes simplex
virus and Human influenza virus.
Thus, Dracaena resin could be a rich source of antimicrobial
agents with possibly novel mechanisms of action. Interestingly,
resin from Dracaena cochinchinensis has been produced by
infection with Fusarium and Cladosporium spp. (Wang et al.,
1999). In another study done by Jiang et al. (2003), inoculation
of fungi Fusarium 9568D in abiotic branch and wood of Dra-
caena cochinchinensis resulted in emergence of red resin from
the inoculation points after 4–5 months incubation. The emerged
resin was found to resemble the natural resin by UV-IR spectra
analysis.
2.3.2.2. Antitumor and cytotoxic activity. Vachalkova et al.
(1995) studied carcinogenicity of three homoisoflavanoids and
four flavanoids isolated from the resin of Dracaena cinnabari.
Al-Fatimi et al. (2005) reported cytotoxic activity of resin of
Dracaena cinnabari from Yemen against human ECV-304
cells. Dracaena draco has been found to be a rich source of
cytotoxic steroidal saponins. Darias et al. (1989) reported,
for the first time, the use of sap of Dracaena draco as an
anticarcinogen. Steroidal saponins, (25R)-spirost-5-en-3␤-ol
References
Brockmann and Junge (1943), Robertson and
Whalley (1950), Rao et al. (1982), Gao et al. (1989),
Xia et al. (2005)
Cardillo et al. (1971)
Cardillo et al. (1971), Rao et al. (1982)
Cardillo et al. (1971), Tsai et al. (1995, 1998)
Cardillo et al. (1971), Arnone et al. (1997)
Piozzi et al. (1974), Trease and Evans (1978)
Merlini and Nasini (1976)
Rao et al. (1982)
Gibbs et al. (1983)
Hsu (1986)
Poehland et al. (1987), Bianchini et al. (1988),
Akihisa et al. (1996), Shen et al. (2007)
Arnone and Nasini (1989)
Arnone and Nasini (1990)
Arnone et al. (1997)
Ford et al. (2001)
Shen et al. (2007)
3-O-{O-␣-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1 → 2)-␤-d-glucopyranoside}
and (23S,24S)-spirosta-5,25(27)-diene-1␤,3␤,23,24-tetrol
1-O-{O-2,3,4-tri-O-acetyl-␣-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1 → 2)-␣-
l-arabinopyranosyl}24-O-␤-d-fucopyranoside, isolated from
the aerial parts of Dracaena draco are reported to show potent
cytostatic activity against HL-60 cells with IC50 value being
1.3 and 2.6 ␮g/ml, respectively compared with etoposide (IC50
0.3 ␮g/ml) used as a positive control (Mimaki et al., 1999).
González et al. (2003) also reported new steroidal saponins,
Draconin A and Draconin B with cytotoxic activities against
HL-60 cells from bark of Dracaena draco. The mechanism of
these compounds’ cytotoxicity was also evaluated and found
to be via activation of apoptotic process. Recently a new
cytotoxic steroidal saponin, Icogenin, has been isolated from
Dracaena draco. Icogenin also inhibited growth of HL-60 cells
by induction of apoptosis (Hernández et al., 2004). Dioscin,
from Dracaena draco also displayed cytotoxic activity similar
to Icogenin.
2.3.2.3. Analgesic activity. Liu et al. (2004) observed that both
Dragon’s blood resin (D. cochichinensis) and loureirin B could
suppress TTX-S voltage-gated sodium currents depending upon
dose, which could be reason for its analgesic effect. Later,
Liu et al. (2005) studied the effects of Dragon’s blood and
its component loureirin B on tetrodotoxin-sensitive (TTX-S)
and tetrodotoxin-resistant (TTX-R) sodium currents in trigem-
inal ganglion (TG) neurons using the whole-cell patch-clamp
technique and found that both Dragon’s blood and loureirin
B suppressed two types of peak sodium currents depending
 D. Gupta et al. / Journal of Ethnopharmacology 115 (2008) 361–380 373

Table 4
Chemical constituents reported from Dracaena spp.
Compound name Bioactivity References

Dracaena cinnabari Balf. f.

(±)-7,4 -Dihydroxy-3 -methoxyflavan Braz et al. (1980), Achenbach et al. (1988),
Masaoud et al. (1995c)
4,4 -Dihydroxy-2 -methoxychalcone (9) Meksuriyen and Cordell (1988), Masaoud et al.
(1995c)
7,4 -Dihydroxyflavone (23) Meksuriyen and Cordell (1988), Maxwel1 et al.
(1989), Masaoud et al. (1995c)
(2S)-7-Hydroxyflavan; (2S)-7-hydroxyflavan-4-one (20); Suchý et al. (1991), Masaoud et al. (1995c)
7-hydroxy-3-(4-hydroxybenzyl)-8-methoxychroman;
7-hydroxy-3-(4-hydroxy benzyl) chroman; loureirin C
(24)
3-(4-Hydroxybenzyl)-7,8-methylendioxychroman Antioxidant activity Suchý et al. (1991), Masaoud et al. (1995c),
Machala et al. (2001), Deepika and Gupta (2007)
2 -Methoxysocotrin-5 -ol, socotrin-4 -ol; Masaoud et al. (1995a)
homoisosocotrin-4 -ol
Cinnabarone (29) Masaoud et al. (1995b), Deepika and Gupta (2007)
(2S)-7,3 -Dihydroxy-4 -methoxyflavan; Masaoud et al. (1995c)
4-hydroxy-2-methoxydihydrochalcone;
7-hydroxy-3-(3-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzyl)chroman
24-Methylenecycloartanol; 31-norcycloartanol; 4␣, Masaoud et al. (1995d)
14␣-dimethylcholest-8-en-3␤-ol;
4␣-methylcholest-7-en-3␤-ol; betulin; campesterol;
cholest-4-en-3-one; cholesterol; cycloartanol;
lanost-7-en-3␤-ol; lupeol; sitosterol;
stigmast-22-en-3␤-ol; stigmastanol; stigmasterol
Damalachawin (30) Himmelreich et al. (1995)
2,4,4 -Trihydroxydihydrochalcone Antitumor activity, chemoprotective González et al. (2000), Forejtnı́ková et al. (2005)
effects
Dracophane (27) Veselá et al. (2002)
2,4 -Dihydroxy-4,6-dimethoxydihydrochalcone; 3-(4- Deepika and Gupta (2007) (unpublished report)
hydroxy-2-methoxyphenyl)-1-phenyl-1-propanone;
3 ,7-dihydroxy-4 -methoxyflavan;
3 ,7-dihydroxy-4 -methoxy homoisoflavan;
4 ,6-dihydroxy-7-methoxyhomoisoflavan;
4 ,6-dihydroxy-7-methoxyhomoisoflavan;
4 ,7-dihydroxy-5-methoxyhomoisoflavan;
4 ,7-dihydroxy-3 -methoxy flavan;
4 ,7-dihydroxyhomoisoflavan;
4 ,7-dihydroxy-8-methylflavan;
4 ,7,8-trihydroxyhomoisoflavan;
7-hydroxy-5-methoxy-6-methylflavan;
7-hydroxy-3-(4-hydroxy benzyl)-4-chromanone;
7,10-dihydroxy-11-methoxydracae none;
10-hydroxy-11-methoxydracaenone; loureirin A
Dracaena cochinchinensis (Lour.) S.C. Chen
Loureirin A; loureirin c (24); loureirin B Analgesic activity Meksuriyen and Cordell (1988), Lu et al. (1998),
Zhou et al. (2001a,b), Liu et al. (2004, 2005, 2006),
Chen and Liu (2006), Zheng et al. (2006a,b)
7,4 -Dihydroxyflavane Antifungal activity Wang et al. (1995), Zhou et al. (2001a,b), Zheng et
al. (2006a,b)
7-Hydroxy-4 -methoxyflavan; Lu et al. (1998)
6-hydroxy-7-methoxy-3-(4 -hydroxybenzyl)chromane;
2,3,5,6-tetrachloro-1,4-dimethoxybenzene;
4 -hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxystilbene
2, 4, 4 -Trihydroxydihydrochalcone; 2, 4, Lu et al. (1998), Zhou et al. (2001a,b)
4 -trihydroxy-6-methoxydihydrochalcone
2 -Methoxysocotrin-5 -ol; socotrin-4 -ol; 2 , 4 , Analgesic activity Zhou et al. (2001a,b), Liu et al. (2006)
4-trihydroxychalcone; 2-methoxy-4,
4 -dihydroxychalcone; cochinchinenins
2 -Methoxy-4 ,4-dihydroxychalcone (9) Zhou et al. (2001a,b), Zheng et al. (2006a,b)
Dracaenoside A; B; C; D Zheng and Yang (2003a,b)
374 D. Gupta et al. / Journal of Ethnopharmacology 115 (2008) 361–380

Table 4 (Continued )
Compound name Bioactivity References

25(R,S)-Dracaenosides E–H; M; O–Q; dracaenosides Zheng et al. (2004a,b,c)

I–L; R; 25(S)-dracaenoside N;
25(R,S)-spirost-5-en-3-ol
3-O-␣-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1,2)-[␣-l-rhamno
pyranosyl-(1,4)]-␤-d-glucopyranoside;
25(R,S)-spirost-5-en-3-ol 3-O-␣-l-rhamnopyranosyl-
(1,2)-␤-l-glucopyranosyl-(1,3)]-␤-d-glucopyranoside;
26-O-␤-d-glucopyranosyl
25(R,S)-furost-5-en-3,22␰,26-triol
3-O-␣-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1,2)-[␤-d-glucopyranosyl
(1,3)]-␤-d-glucopyranoside; 26-O-␤-d-glucopyranosyl
25(R,S)-spirost-5-en-3,22␰,26-triol
3-O-␣-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1,2)-[␣-l-
rhamnopyranosyl-(1,4)]-␤-d-glucopyranoside
7,4 -Dihydroxyflavone (23); Zheng et al. (2006a,b)
7,4 -dihydrohomoisoflavanone (26);
7,4 -homoisoflavane (25); 10,11-dihydroxydracaenone
C; dracaenogenin A and B
1-(4 -O-␤-d-Glucopyranosyl)benzyl-ethan-2-ol; Zheng et al. (2006a,b)
3,4-dihydoxy-1-allylbenezene-4-O-␣-l-
rhamnopyranosyl-(1 → 6)-O-␤-d-glucopyranoside;
1-hydroxy-3,4,5-trimethoxy benzene-1-O-␣-l-
apiopyranosyl-(1 → 6)-O-␤-d-glucopyranoside;
lophenol; ␤-sitosterol; stigma-5, 22-diene-3-ol;
tachioside
Dracaena draco (L.) L.
7,4 -Dihydrohomoisoflavanone (26); Camarda et al. (1983)
7,4 -homoisoflavane (25)
7-Hydroxy-3-(4-hydroxybenzyl)chroman-4-one Camarda et al. (1983), González et al. (2000)
7-Hydroxy-3-(4-hydroxybenzyl)chroman Camarda et al. (1983), González et al. (2000, 2003)
(2S)-4 ,7-Dihydroxy-3 -methoxy-8-methylflavan; Camarda et al. (1983), González et al. (2000, 2004)
(2S)-4 ,5-dihydroxy-7-methoxy-8-methylflavan
10-Hydroxy-11-methoxydracaenone Meksuriyen et al. (1987), González et al. (2000)
3,4,5-Trimethoxycinnamyl alcohol Ponpipom et al. (1987), González et al. (2000)
4,4 -Dihydroxy-2 -methoxychalcone (9) Achenbach et al. (1988), González et al. (2000)
(23S)-Spirost-5,25(27)-diene-1␤,3␤,23-triol Cytostatic activity Mimaki et al. (1999)
1-O-{4-O-acetyl-␣-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1 → 2)-␣-l-
arabinopyranoside}(45);
(23S)-spirost-5,25(27)-diene-1␤,3␤,23-triol
1-O-{O-␣-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1 → 2)-␣-l-
arabinopyranoside}
(46);(23S,24S)-spirosta-5,25(27)-diene-1␤,3␤,23,24-
tetrol
1-O-{O-(4-O-acetyl-␣-l-rhamnopyranosyl)-(1 → 2)-
␣-l-arabinopyranoside} (47);
(23S,24S)-spirosta-5,25(27)-diene-1␤,3␤,23,24-tetrol
1-O-{O-2,3,4-tri-O-acetyl-␣-l-rhamnopyranosyl-
(1 → 2)-␣-l-arabinopyranosyl}24-O-␤-d-
fucopyranoside (48); (25R)-spirost-5-en-3␤-ol
3-O-{O-␣-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1 → 2)-␤-d-
glucopyranoside} (33);
spirost-5,25(27)-diene-1␤,3␤-diol
1-O-{O-␣-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1 → 2)-␣-l-
arabinopyranoside}(34);
(23S)-spirost-5,25(27)-diene-1␤,3␤,23-triol
1-O-{O-␣-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1 → 2)-O-[␤-d-
xylopyranosyl-(l → 3)]-␣-l-arabinopyranoside}(35);
26-O-␤-d-glucopyranosyl-22-O-methylfurosta-
5,25(27)-diene-l␤,3␤,22␰,26-tetrol
1-O-{O-␣-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(l → 2)-O-␣-l-
arabinopyranoside}(36)
(23S,24S)-Spirosta-5,25(27)-diene-1␤,3␤,23,24-tetrol Mimaki et al. (1999), Hernández et al. (2004)
1-O-{O-␣-l-rhamnopyranosyl}-(1 → 2)-␣-l-
arabinopyranoside}
(43)
 D. Gupta et al. / Journal of Ethnopharmacology 115 (2008) 361–380
Table 4 (Continued )
Compound name Bioactivity
(2S)-4 ,7-Dihydroxy-8-methylflavan; 3-(4-hydroxy
benzyl)-5,7-dimethoxychroman;
5,7-dihydroxy-3-(4-hydroxybenzyl)-chromone;
5,7-dihydroxy-3-(4-hydroxy benzyl)-chroman-4-one;
7-hydroxy-3-(4-hydroxybenzyl) chromone;
isoliquiritigenin; liquiritigenin; xenognosin
Loureirin C (24)
(2S)-3 ,7-Dihydroxy-4 -methoxy-8-methylflavan
7-Hydroxy-3-(4-hydroxybenzyl)-8-methoxychroman;
3-(4-hydroxybenzyl)-7,8-methylendioxychroman
(±)-7,4 -Dihydroxy-3 -methoxyflavan
2,4,4 -Trihydroxydihydrochalcone Chemoprotective effects
Methyl protodioscin (39); draconin C (42); draconin A Apoptic activity
(40); draconin B (41)
(−)-3 -Hydroxy-4 -methoxy-7-hydroxy-8-methylflavan; Cytotoxic activity
3-O-[␣-l-rhamnopyranosyl(1 → 4)-␤-
dglucopyranosyl] diosgenin (38); 4-allylcatecol;
␤-sitosterol; diosgenin (31); isoliquiritigenin;
sitoindoside i; trans-␤-apo-8 -carotenal; dioscin (37)
(2S)-4 ,7-Dihydroxy-3 -methoxyflavan; Cytotoxic activity
(2S)-4 ,7-dihydroxy-3 -methoxyflavan; diosgenone
(32); shonanin; syringaresinol; icogenin (44)
Dracoflavylium
Dracol; icodeside Cytotoxic activity
Number given in parentheses corresponds to the structure of that compound given in Fig. 1.
upon dose. Further, Liu et al. (2006) explored the material
basis for efficacy of modulation of Dragon’s blood on the
tetrodotoxin-resistant (TTX-R) sodium currents in dorsal root
ganglion (DRG) neurons. They suggested that analgesic effect
of Dragon’s blood may be explained on the basis of interfer-
ence with pain messages caused by the modulation of Dragon’s
blood on TTX-R sodium currents in DRG neurons and could be
due to the synergistic effect of three components cochinchinenin
A, cochinchinenin B, and loureirin B. Recently, Chen and Liu
(2006) carried out a computer simulation research for the effects
of Dragon’s blood and its component loureirin B on sodium
channel in dorsal root ganglion cells.
2.3.2.4. Antioxidative activity. Juránek et al. (1993) have
reported antioxidant activity of three homoisoflavans isolated
from resin of Dracaena cinnabari. Machala et al. (2001) studied
homoisoflavonoids and chalcones, isolated from the Dracaena
cinnabari, for their potential to inhibit cytochrome P4501A
(CYP1A) enzymes and Fe (II)/NADPH dependent in vitro
peroxidation of microsomal lipids isolated from C57B1/10
mouse liver and found chalcones were poor antioxidants
while 7,8-methylenedioxy-3 (4-hydroxybenzyl) chromane, a
homoisoflavonoid, exhibited a strong antioxidant activity.
2.4. Pterocarpus spp.
Pterocarpus officinalis Jacq., previously known as Pterocar-
pus draco L., is the only species known as a source of Dragon’s
blood. According to a description in the Bulletin of the Botani-
cal Department, Jamaica, No. 45, July, 1893, when an incision
is made in the bark, drops of red sap ooze out, flow slowly down
375
References
González et al. (2000)
González et al. (2000, 2003)
González et al. (2000, 2004)
González et al. (2000), Hernández et al. (2004)
González et al. (2000, 2003, 2004)
González et al. (2000), Forejtnı́ková et al. (2005)
González et al. (2003)
González et al. (2003), Hernández et al. (2004)
Hernández et al. (2004)
Melo et al. (2006)
Hernández et al. (2006)
the bark and gradually harden. No major studies have been done
on this source of Dragon’s blood. Trimble (1895), studied resin
from Pterocarpus draco L. and obtained 34.85% tannins from
this resin.
3. Quality control and safety
Since Dragon’s blood, as a name, has been applied to resins
obtained from different species from different continents; there
is a great need to identify them apart. There are other substi-
tutes as well, which are available in the market for Dragon’s
blood such as Eucalyptus resinifera Sm. (Edwards et al., 2001).
A powdered dark red coral from the Indian Ocean is also sold in
Yemeni markets as “Dragon’s blood”. Glasgow’s Professor of
Chemistry, J. Dobbie and G. Henderson first tackled the issue
of chemical identification of the various resins under the name
of Dragon’s blood in 1883, on request of Prof. Bayley Balfour
(Pearson, 2002). They reported, “the resins known as Dragon’s
blood differ widely from one another, not only in their degree of
purity, but also in their appearance” and that “specimens labeled
as having come from the same locality must, in reality, in some
cases, have been derived from very different sources” (Dobbie
and Henderson, 1883). Dobbie and Henderson (1884) arranged
red resins in four distinct groups: 1. Those soluble in chloroform,
carbon disulphide, and benzene completely; 2. Those soluble in
chloroform, but insoluble in carbon disulphide and benzene;
3. Those soluble in chloroform and benzene and partly in car-
bon disulphide; and 4. Those, which are insoluble in all three
reagents.
Edwards et al. (1997) described Dragon’s blood resin (Dra-
caena spp.) found on Socotra Island as the probable genuine
376 D. Gupta et al. / Journal of Ethnopharmacology 115 (2008) 361–380
source in antiquity, on the basis of Fourier transform Raman
spectroscopic studies of several resins generically known as
Dragon’s blood from different botanical and geographical
sources. They have since described a Raman spectroscopic
method to identify fake and unknown Dragon’s blood resins
from different botanical origins (Edwards et al., 2001, 2004).
All Dracaena spectra show the strong bands in the wave num-
ber region 1605–1500 cm−1 and can be generally identified by
the strongest band at 1605 cm−1 , the shoulder at ca. 1560 cm−1 .
However, specimen degradation can be recognized by the loss
of this shoulder at 1560 cm−1 . Also, vibrational bands near
1170 cm−1 seen in the Dracaena draco spectra could be used as
biomarkers for Dracaena species. The main feature distinguish-
ing Daemonorops Dragon’s blood resins from those of Dracaena
is the presence of the narrow and intense band at 1600 cm−1 , the
doublets at 1510–1540 cm−1 and 1420–1450 cm−1 region and
also the medium intensity band at 1001 cm−1 . Croton speci-
men is distinguished by a broad band at 1612 cm−1 , and also by
the medium intensity band at 784 cm−1 . Later, Edwards et al.
(2004) identified the key molecular biomarker bands of Dragon’s
blood in the region 1400–1700 cm−1 , which could be adopted
as a protocol for the identification of the botanical and possible
geographical sources of modern Dragon’s blood resins.
No major toxicity has been reported from Dragon’s blood.
The American Herbal Products Association (1997) lists San-
gre de Drago (Croton) as Class I, meaning it can be consumed
safely when used appropriately. There are some instances when
Dragon’s blood has been misrepresented as ‘opium’ and dis-
tributed for use as a ‘drug’. Ford et al. (2001) had identified a
red substance as Dragon’s blood incense from Daemonorops
draco that was being mixed with marijuana and smoked as
an alternative to opium in Virginia. They also screened the
substance for toxicity in various in vitro tests and suggested
that that the abuse potential for Dragon’s blood incenses is
minimal.
4. Conservation needs
Dragon’s blood is used in traditional medicine for diverse
applications. Overexploitation of sources of Dragon’s blood
is a matter of concern as is the case of Croton lechleri, in
Peru and Ecuador. Because of the overexploitation and trade,
it was identified as potentially threatened amongst the 22
species in the Workshop of Specialists in Ethnobotany and
Economic Botany held in 1997 (http://www.traffic.org/ecuador/
executivesummary.html). Dracaena cinnabari was also listed
as vulnerable in the IUCN red list of threatened species (Miller,
2004). Dracaena draco was reported as vulnerable species on the
Canary Islands due to overexploitation of the trees for Dragon’s
Blood in the middle ages (Lucas and Synge, 1978). It was also
cited in IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (2006). Predom-
inantly, resin of Daemonorops draco is the principal source of
commercially harvested Dragon’s blood. Plant cell, tissue and
organ culture could be an alternative approach for economic pro-
duction of Dragon’s blood plants and the secondary metabolites
they produce.
5. Conclusion
Although Dragon’s blood has proved to be popular alter-
native or complementary medicine used in the treatment
of many diseases, clinical trial evaluation of these claims
using currently accepted protocols is needed. One such
potential new drug for AIDS-related diarrhoea is, “Cro-
felemer” developed originally by Shaman Pharmaceuticals
from Croton lechleri. Since 2001, “Crofelemer” has been
purchased by the American pharmaceutical company, Napo
Pharmaceuticals and is currently undergoing clinical trials
(http://www.aumag.org/lifeguide/WWSeptember05.html,
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/d/dragon20.html,
http://www.drugs.com/npp/dragon-s-blood.html#ref3).
This resin offers huge potential and we need to investi-
gate whether purified compounds isolated from Dragon’s blood
may have better therapeutic potential as compared to crude
extract. Since there is considerable variation in the chemical
composition among various samples of Dragon’s Blood, quality
control/assurance needs to be established for the traditional med-
ical trade. This review is an effort to highlight the potential and
problems related to the sources and possibilities of isolating new
pharmaceutically active molecules, using traditional knowledge
in our search, for new and effective dugs molecules.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Prof. Ulrike Lindequist, Institute of
Pharmacy, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University, Germany for her
thorough revision of this review and providing us with her invalu-
able suggestions. We acknowledge the financial support from
AICTE (8023/RID/NPROJ/RPS-38/2004-05).
References
Achenbach, H., Stocker, M., Constenla, M.A., 1988. Flavonoid and other con-
stituents of Bauhinia manca. Phytochemistry 27, 1835–1841.
Akihisa, T., Yasukawa, K., Oinuma, H., Kasahara, Y., Yamanouchi, S., Takido,
M., Kumaki, K., Tamura, T., 1996. Triterpene alcohols from the flow-
ers of compositae and their anti-inflammatory effects. Phytochemistry 43,
1255–1260.
Alexander, D., Miller, A., 1996. Saving the spectacular flora of Socotra. Plant
Talk 7, 19–22.
Alexander, D., Miller, A., 1995. Socotra’s misty future. New Scientist 147, 32.
Al-Fatimi, M., Friedrich, U., Jenett-Siems, K., 2005. Cytotoxicity of plants used
in traditional medicine in Yemen. Fitoterapia 76, 355–358.
American Herbal Products Association, 1997. American Herbal Products Asso-
ciation Botanical Safety Handbook. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.
Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, 1974. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden
85, 531.
Arnone, A., Nasini, G., 1989. Constituents of Dragon’s blood: part III. Dracoox-
epine, a novel type of biflavanoid. Heterocycles 29, 1119–1125.
Arnone, A., Nasini, G., 1990. Constituents of Dragon’s blood: part IV. Dra-
coflavan A, a novel secotriflavanoid. Journal of the Chemical Society. Perkin
Transactions I, 2637–2640.
Arnone, A., Nasini, G., Vajna de Pava, O., 1997. Constituents of Dragon’s blood.
5. Dracoflavans B1, B2, C1, C2, D1, and D2, new A-type deoxyproantho-
cyanidins. Journal of Natural Products 60, 971–975.
Badib, A.S., 1991. Medicinal Plants of the Yemen. Maktabah Alirsaid, Sanaa,
p. 15.
 D. Gupta et al. / Journal of Ethnopharmacology 115 (2008) 361–380
Balfour, I.B., 1883. The Dragon Blood Tree of Socotra, vol. 30. Translation
Royal Society, Edinburgh, pp. 619–623.
Balfour, I.B., 1888. Botany of Socotra, vol. 31. Translation Royal Society,
Edinburgh, pp. 1–446.
Barnard, D.L., Huffman, J.H., Nelson, R.M., Morris, J.L.B., Gessaman, A.C.,
Sidwell, R.W., Meyerson, L.R., 1992. Mode of action of SP-303 against
respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Antiviral Research, 91.
Barnard, D.L., Smeem, D.F., Huffman, J.H., Meyerson, L.R., Sidwell, R.W.,
1993. Antiherpesvirus activity and mode of action of SP-303, a novel plant
flavonoid. Chemotherapy 39, 203–211.
Barry, Hedley, Drummond, Morrell, 1926. Natural and Synthetic Resins, p.
83-89.
Bellesia, F.F., Pinetti, A.A., Tirillini, B.B., 1996. Headspace analysis of Croton
lechleri L. sap. Journal of Essential Oil Research 8, 435–437.
Bensky, D., Gamble, A., 1993. Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica,
China.
Bettolo, R.M., Scarpati, M.L., 1979. Alkaloids of Croton draconoides. Phyto-
chemistry 18, 520.
Bianchini, J.P., Gaydou, E.M., Rafaralahitsimba, G., Waegell, B., Zahra, J.P.,
1988. Dammarane derivatives in the fruit lipids of Olea madagascariensis.
Phytochemistry 27, 2301–2304.
Boutier, P., Le Verrier, J., 1872. The Canarian, or Book of the Conquest and
Conversion of the Canarians in the Year 1402, by Jean de Bethencourt, vol.
46. Hakluyt Society Publications, London.
Braz, F.R., Diaz, P.P., Gottlieb, O.R., 1980. Tetronic acid and diarylpropanes
from Iryanthera elliptica. Phytochemistry 19, 455–459.
Brockmann, H., Junge, H., 1943. Constitution of dracorhodin, a new pigment
from “dragon’s blood”. Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft
76, 751–763.
Cai, X.T., Xu, Z.F., 1979. Studies on the plant origin of Chinese Dragon’s blood.
Acta Botanica Yunnanica 1, 1–9.
Cai, Y., Chen, Z.P., Phillipson, J.D., 1993a. Diterpenes from Croton lechleri.
Phytochemistry 32, 755–760.
Cai, Y., Evans, J., Roberts, M.F., Phillipson, J.D., Zenk, M.H., Gleba, Y.Y.,
1991. Polyphenolic compounds from Croton lechleri. Phytochemistry 30,
2033–2040.
Cai, Y., Chen, Z.P., Phillipson, J.D., 1993b. Clerodane diterpenoids from Croton
lechleri. Phytochemistry 34, 265–268.
Camarda, L., Merlini, L., Nasini, G., 1983. Dragon’s blood from Dracaena
draco, structure of novel homoisoflavonoid. Heterocycles 20, 39–43.
Cardillo, G., Merlini, L., Nasini, G., Salvadori, P., 1971. Constituents of Dragon’s
Blood: part I. Structure and absolute configuration of new optically active
flavans. Journal of Chemical Society C, 3967–3970.
Carlson, T.J.S., King, S.R., 2000. Sangre de Drago (Croton lechleri Muell.-
Arg.)—A phytomedicine for the treatment of diarrhoea. Health Notes:
Review of Complementary and Integrative Medicine 7, 315–320.
Castner, J.L., Timme, S.L., Duke, J.A., 1998. A Field Guide to Medicinal and
Useful Plants of the Upper Amazon. Feline Press, Gainesville, FL, p. 46.
Castro, O., Gutierrez, J.M., Barrios, M., Castro, I., Romero, M., Umana, E., 1999.
Neutralization of the hemorrhagic effect induced by Bothrops asper (Ser-
pentes: Viperidae) venom with tropical plant extracts. Revista de Biologı́a
Tropical 47, 605–616.
Chen, S., Liu, X., 2006. A computer simulation research for the effects of
Dragon’s blood and its component loureirin B on sodium channel in dor-
sal root ganglion cells. Sheng Wu Yi Xue Gong Cheng Xue Za Zhi 23,
1172–1176.
Chen, Z.P., Cai, Y., Phillipson, J.D., 1994. Studies on the anti-tumor, anti-
bacterial, and wound-healing properties of Dragon’s blood. Planta Medica
60, 541–545.
Cobo, P.B., 1956. In: Mateos, P.F. (Ed.), Biblioteca de Autores Españoles
(Series), vols. 91/92. Atlas, Madrid.
Craveiro, A., Silveira, E.R., 1982. 2 Cleistanthane type diterpenes from Croton
sonderianus. Phytochemistry 21, 2571–2574.
Darias, V., Bravo, L., Rabanal, R., Sanchez Mateo, C., Gonzalez Luis, R.M., Her-
nandez Perez, A.M., 1989. New contribution to the ethnopharmacological
study of the Canary Islands. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 25, 77–92.
Deepika, G., Gupta, R.K., 2007. Chemical investigation of Dracaena cinnabari
resin in India. Unpublished report.
377
Desmarchelier, C., Witting Schaus, F., Coussio, I., Cicca, G., 1997. Effects of
Sangre de Drago from Croton lechleri Muell. Arg. on the production of
active oxygen radicals. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 58, 103–108.
Desmarchelier, C.J., de Moraes Barros, S.B., 2003. Pharmacological activity of
South American plants: effects on spontaneous in vivo lipid peroxidation.
Phytotherapy Research 17, 80–82.
DiCesare, D., DuPont, H.L., Mathewson, J.J., Ashely, D., Martinez-Sandoval, F.,
Pennington, J.E., Porter, S.B., 2002. A double blind, randomized, placebo-
controlled study of SP-303 (Provir) in the symptomatic treatment of acute
diarrhoea among travelers to Jamaica and Mexico. American Journal of
Gastroenterology 97, 2585–2588.
Dobbie, J.J., Henderson, G.G., 1883. The Classification and Properties of red
Resins Known Under the Name of Dragon’s Blood. W.L. Richardson, Lon-
don.
Dobbie, J.J., Henderson, G.G., 1884. Red resins known as Dragons Blood.
American Journal of Pharmacy 56, 4.
Duke, J., Vasquez, R., 1994. Amazonian Ethnobotanical Dictionary. CRC, Boca
Raton, FL.
Edwards, H.G.M., de Oliveira, L.F., Prendergast, H.D., 2004. Raman spectro-
scopic analysis of Dragon’s blood resins-basis for distinguishing between
Dracaena (Convallariaceae), Daemonorops (Palmae) and Croton (Euphor-
biaceae). Analyst 129, 134–138.
Edwards, H.G.M., de Oliveira, L.F., Quye, A., 2001. Raman spectroscopy of
colored resins used in antiquity: Dragon’s blood and related substances.
Spectrochimia Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy 57,
2831–2842.
Edwards, H.G.M., Farwell, D.W., Quye, A., 1997. ‘Dragon’s blood’
I—characterization of an ancient resin using Fourier transform Raman spec-
troscopy. Journal of Raman Spectroscopy 28, 243–249.
Emboden, W.A., 1974. Bizarre Plants: Magical, Monstrous and Mythical. Studio
Vista, London, pp. 98–109.
Esmeraldino, L.E., Souza, A.M., Sampaio, S.V., 2005. Evaluation of the effect
of aqueous extract of Croton urucurana Baillon (Euphorbiaceae) on the
hemorrhagic activity induced by the venom of Bothrops jararaca, using
new techniques to quantify hemorrhagic activity in rat skin. Phytomedicine
12, 570–576.
Fischer, H., Machen, T.E., Widdicombe, J.H., Carlson, T.J.S., King, S.R., Chow,
J.W.S., Illek, B., 2004. A novel extract SB-300 from the stem bark latex of
Croton lechleri inhibits CFTR-mediated chloride secretion in human colonic
epithelial cells. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 93, 351–357.
Ford, S.L., Steiner, R.R., Thiericke, R., Young, R., Soine, W.H., 2001. Dragon’s
Blood incense: misbranded as a drug of abuse? Forensic Science Interna-
tional 115, 1–8.
Forejtnı́ková, H., Lunerová, K., Kubı́nová, R., Jankovská, D., Marek, R., Kareš,
R., Suchý, V., Vondráček, J., Machala, M., 2005. Chemoprotective and toxic
potentials of synthetic and natural chalcones and dihydrochalcones in vitro.
Toxicology 208, 81–93.
Fulling, E.H., 1953. Dragon’s blood. Economic Botany 7, 227.
Gabriel, S.E., Davenport, S.E., Steagall, R.J., Vimal, V., Carlson, T., Rozhon,
E.R., 1999. A novel plant-derived inhibitor of cAMP-mediated fluid and
chloride secretion. American Journal of Physiology Gastrointestinal and
Liver Physiology 276, G58–G63.
Gao, W.F., Zheng, H., Wang, Y.S., Zhang, Z.H., Lu, J.C., Zhang, S.F., 1989.
Synthesis of dracorhodin. Chinese Journal of Pharmaceuticals (Zhongguo
Yiyao Gongye Zazhi) 20, 247–250.
Gerarde, J., Johnson, T. (Eds.), 1633. The Herbal or General History of Plants.
Reprinted by Dover Publications, New York (1975).
Gibbs, A., Green, C., Doctor, V.M., 1983. Isolation and anticoagulant prop-
erties of polysaccharides of Typha augustata and Daemonorops species.
Thrombosis Research 32, 97–108.
Gilbert, B.E., Wyde, P.R., Wilson, P.Z., Meyerson, L., 1993. SP-303 small par-
ticle aerosol treatment of influenza A virus infection in mice and respiratory
syncytial virus infection in cotton rats. Antiviral Research 21, 37–45.
Gonzales, G.F., Valerio Jr., L.G., 2006. Medicinal plants from Peru: a review of
plants as potential agents against cancer. Anti-cancer Agents in Medicinal
Chemistry 6, 429–444.
González, A.G., Hernández, J.C., León, F., Padrón, J.I., Estévez, F., Quin-
tana, J., Bermejo, J., 2003. Steroidal saponins from the bark of Dracaena
378 D. Gupta et al. / Journal of Ethnopharmacology 115 (2008) 361–380
draco and their cytotoxic activities. Journal of Natural Products 66, 793–
798.
González, A.G., León, F., Hernández, J.C., Padrón, J.I., Sánchez-Pinto, L.,
Bermejo, J., 2004. Flavans of dragon’s blood from Dracaena draco and
Dracaena tamaranae. Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 32, 179–184.
González, A.G., León, F., Sánchez-Pinto, L., Padrón, J.I., Bermejo, J., 2000.
Phenolic compounds of Dragon’s blood from Dracaena draco. Journal of
Natural Products 63, 1297–1299.
Guerrero, R.O., Guzmán, A.L., 2004. Bioactivities of latexes from selected
tropical plants. Revista Cubana de Plantas Medicinales, 9.
Gupta, M.P., Monge, A., Karikas, G.A., Lopez De Cerain, A., Solis, P.N., De
Leon, E., Trujillo, M., Suarez, O., Wilson, F., 1996. Screening of Panama-
nian medicinal plants for brine shrimp toxicity, crown gall tumor inhibition,
cytotoxicity and DNA intercalation. International Journal of Pharmacognosy
34, 19–27.
Gurgel, L.A., Sidrimb, J.J.C., Martinsc, D.T., Filhod, V.C., Rao, V.S., 2005. In
vitro antifungal activity of Dragon’s blood from Croton urucurana against
dermatophytes. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 97, 409–412.
Gurgel, L.A., Silva, R.M., Santos, F.A., Martins, D.T., Mattos, P.O., Rao, V.S.,
2001. Studies on the antidiarrhoeal effect of Dragon’s blood from Croton
urucurana. Phytotherapy Research 15, 319–322.
Hartwell, J.L., 1969. Plants used against cancer. Lloydia 32, 158.
Hernández, J.C., León, F., Estévez, F., Quintana, J., Bermejo, J., 2006. A homo-
isoflavonoid and a cytotoxic saponin from Dracaena draco. Chemistry and
Biodiversity 3, 62–68.
Hernández, J.C., León, F., Quintana, J., Estévez, F., Bermejo, J., 2004. Icogenin,
a new cytotoxic steroidal saponin isolated from Dracaena draco. Bioorganic
and Medicinal Chemistry 12, 4423–4429.
Himmelreich, U., Masaoud, M., Adam, G., Ripperger, H., 1995. Damalachawin,
a triflavonoid of a new structural type from Dragon’s blood of Dracaena
cinnabari. Phytochemistry 39, 949–951.
Holodniy, M., Koch, J., Mistal, M., Schmidt, J.M., Khandwala, A., Pennington,
J.E., Porter, S.B., 1999. A double blind, randomized, placebo controlled
phase II study to assess the safety and efficacy of orally administered SP-
303 for symptomatic treatment of diarrhoea in patients with AIDS. American
Journal of Gastroenterology 94, 3267–3273.
Howes, F.N., 1949. Vegetable Gums and Resins. Chronica Botanica Company,
Waltham, Mass. USA.
Hsu, H.Y., 1986. Oriental Materia Medica: A Concise Guide Pub. Oriental
Healing Arts Instit. of the United States.
Itokawa, H., Ichihara, Y., Mochizuka, M., Enomori, T., Morita, H., Shirota,
O., Inamatsu, M., Takeya, K., 1991. A cytotoxic substance from San-
gre de Grado. Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin (Tokyo) 39, 1041–
1042.
Jiang, D.F., Ma, P., Yang, J., Wang, X., Xu, K., Huang, Y., Chen, S., 2003.
Formation of blood resin in abiotic Dracaena cochinchinensis inocu-
lated with Fusarium 9568D. Ying Yong Sheng Tai Xue Bao 14, 477–
478.
Jones, K., 1995. Cat’s Claw: Healing Vine of Peru. Sylvan, Seattle, WA.
Jones, K., 2003. Review of Sangre de Drago (Croton lechleri)—A South Amer-
ican tree sap in the treatment of diarrhoea, inflammation, insect bites, viral
infections, and wounds: traditional uses to clinical research. The Journal of
Alternative and Complementary Medicine 9, 877–896.
Juránek, I., Suchý, V., Stará, D., Mašterová, I., Grančaiová, Z., 1993. Antioxida-
tive activity of homoisoflavonoids from Muscari racemosum and Dracaena
cinnabari. Pharmazie 48, 310–311.
Kiangsu Institute of Modern Medicine, 1977. Encyclopedia of Chi-
nese Drugs. Shanghai Scientific and Technical Publications, Shanghai,
pp. 848–851.
Koch, J., 2000. A phase III, double-blind, randomized, placebo controlled multi-
center study of SP-303 (ProvirTM ) in the symptomatic treatment of diarrhoea
in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). In: Poster
Presented at 13th International AIDS Conference, Durban, South Africa,
July 14.
Koch, J., Tuveson, J., Carlson, T., Schmidt, J., 1999. A new therapy for HIV-
associated diarrhoea improves quality of life. In: Poster Presented at Seventh
European Conference on Clinical Aspects and Treatment of HIV-Infection,
Lisbon, Portugal, October 23–27.
Kumar, V.P., Chauhan, N.S., Padh, H., Rajani, M., 2006. Search for antibacte-
rial and antifungal agents from selected Indian medicinal plants. Journal of
Ethnopharmacology 107, 182–188.
Lewis, W.H., Stonard, R.J., Porras-Reyes, B., Mustoe, T.A., 1992. Wound-
healing composition. US Patent 5156847, October 20.
Liu, X., Chen, S., Zhang, Y., Zhang, F., 2006. Modulation of Dragon’s blood on
tetrodotoxin-resistant sodium currents in dorsal root ganglion neurons and
identification of its material basis for efficacy. Science in China. Series C,
Life Sciences 49, 274–285.
Liu, X., Su, C., Shijin, Y., Zhinan, M., 2004. Effects of Dragon’s blood resin and
its component loureirin B on tetrodotoxin-sensitive voltage-gated sodium
currents in rat dorsal root ganglion neurons. Science in China. Series C, Life
Sciences 47, 340–348.
Liu, X., Yin, S., Chen, S., Ma, Q., 2005. Loureirin B: an effective component in
Dragon’s Blood modulating sodium currents in TG neurons. In: Conference
Proceedings: Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in
Medicine and Biology Society, IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology
Society. Conference, vol. 5, pp. 4962–4965.
Lopes, M.I.L., Saffi, J., Echeverrigaray, Ś., Henriques, J.A.P., Salvador, M.,
2004. Mutagenic and antioxidant activities of Croton lechleri sap in biolog-
ical systems. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 95, 437–445.
Lu, W.J., Wang, X., Chen, J., Lu, Y., Wu, N., Kang, W., Zheng, Q., 1998.
Studies on the chemical constituents of chloroform extract of Dracaena
cochinchinensis. Yao Xue Xue Bao 33, 755–758.
Lucas, G.L.I., Synge, H., 1978. The IUCN Plant Red Data Book. IUCN, Morges,
Switzerland.
Lyons, G., 1974. In search of dragons or: the plant that roared. Cactus and
Succulent Journal 44, 267–282.
Mabberley, D.J., 1998. The Plant Book. Cambridge University Press (rev. edn
1998).
Machala, M., Kubı́nová, R., Hořavová, P., Suchý, V., 2001. Chemoprotective
potentials of homoisoflavonoids and chalcones of Dracaena cinnabari:
modulations of drug-metabolizing enzymes and antioxidant activity. Phy-
totherapy Research 15, 114–118.
Masaoud, M., Himmelreich, H., Ripperger, H., Adam, G., 1995a. New
bioflavonoids from Dracaena cinnabari. Planta Medica 61, 341–344.
Masaoud, M., Ripperger, H., Porzel, A., Adam, G., 1995b. Cinnabarone, a
bioflavonoid from Dragon’s blood of Dracaena cinnabari. Phytochemistry
38, 751–753.
Masaoud, M., Ripperger, H., Porzel, A., Adam, G., 1995c. Flavonoids of
Dragon’s blood from Dracaena cinnabari. Phytochemistry 38, 745–749.
Masaoud, M., Schmidt, J., Adam, G., 1995d. Sterols and triterpenoids from
Dracaena cinnabari. Phytochemistry 38, 795–796.
Maxwel1, C.A., Hartwig, U.A., Joseph, C.M., Phillips, D.A., 1989. A chalcone
and two related flavonoids from alfalfa roots induce nod gene of Rhizobium
meliloti. Plant Physiology 91, 824–847.
Meksuriyen, D., Cordell, G.A., 1988. Traditional medicinal plants of Thailand,
XIII. Flavonoid derivatives from Dracaena loureiri. Journal of the Science
Society of Thailand 14, 3–24.
Meksuriyen, D., Cordell, G.A., Ruangrungsi, N., Tantivatana, P., 1987.
Traditional medicinal plants of Thailand, IX. 10-Hydroxy-11-
methoxydracaenone and 7,10-Dihydroxy-11-methoxydracaenone
from Dracaena loureiri. Journal of Natural Products 50, 1118–
1125.
Melo, M.J., Sousa, M., Parola, A.J., de Melo, J.S., Catarino, F., Marcalo, J., Pina,
F., 2006. Identification of 7,4 -Dihydroxy-5-methoxyflavylium in “Dragon’s
Blood”: to be or not to be an anthocyanin. Chemistry 13, 1417–1422.
Merlini, L., Nasini, G., 1976. Constituents of Dragon’s Blood: part II. Struc-
ture and oxidative conversion of novel secobiflavanoid. Journal of Chemical
Society. Perkin Transactions I, 1570–1576.
Meza, E.N. (Ed.), 1999. Desarrollando Nuestra Diversidad Biocultural: “Sangre
de Grado” yel Reto de su Producción Sustentable en el Perú. Universidad
Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima.
Milanowski, D.J., Winter, R.E., Elvin-Lewis, M.P., Lewis, W.H., 2002. Geo-
graphic distribution of three alkaloid chemotypes of Croton lechleri. Journal
of Natural Products 65, 814–819.
Milburn, M., 1984. Dragon’s Blood in East & West Africa, Arabia and the Canary
Islands. Africa 39, 486–493.
 D. Gupta et al. / Journal of Ethnopharmacology 115 (2008) 361–380
Miller, A., 2004. Dracaena cinnabari. In: IUCN 2006. 2006 IUCN Red List of
Threatened Species.
Miller, A.G., Morris, M., 1988. Plants of Dhofar the Southern Region of Oman,
Traditional, Economic and Medicinal Uses. The Office of the Adviser for
Conservation of the Environment, Diwan of Royal Court Sultanate of Oman.
Miller, M.J.S., MacNaughton, W.K., Zhang, X.J., Thompson, J.H., Charbonnet,
R.M., Bobrowski, P., Lao, J., Trentacosti, A.M., Sandoval, M., 2000. Treat-
ment of gastric ulcers and diarrhoea with the Amazonian herbal medicine
sangre de grado. American Journal of Physiology. Gastrointestinal and Liver
Physiology 279, G192–G200.
Miller, M.J.S., Vergnolle, N., McKnight, W., Musah, R.A., Davison, C.A.,
Trentacosti, A.M., Thompson, J.H., Sandoval, M., Wallace, J.L., 2001. Inhi-
bition of neurogenic inflammation by the Amazonian herbal medicine sangre
de grado. The Journal of investigative dermatology 117, 725–730.
Milner, J.E., 1992. The Tree Book. Colllns & Brown Ltd., London.
Milo, B., Risco, E., Vila, R., Iglesias, J., Cãnigueral, S., 2002. Characterization
of a Fucoarabinogalactan, the main polysaccharide from the gum exudate of
Croton urucurana. Journal of Natural Products 65, 1143–1146.
Mimaki, Y., Kuroda, M., Ide Atsushi Kameyama, A., Yokosuka, A., Sashida, Y.,
1999. Steroidal saponins from the aerial parts of Dracaena draco and their
cytostatic activity on HL-60 cells. Phytochemistry 50, 805–813.
Mitscher, L.A., Leu, R.P., Bathala, M.S., Wu, W.N., Beal, J.L., White, R.,
1972. Antimicrobial agents from higher plants. 1. Introduction, rationale
and methodology. Lloydia 35, 157–166.
Mothana, R.A.A., Lindequist, U., 2005. Antimicrobial activity of some medici-
nal plants of the island Soqotra. Journal of Ethnopharmacoloy 96, 177–181.
Mothana, R.A.A., Mentel, R., Reiss, C., Lindequist, U., 2006. Phytochemical
screening and antiviral activity of some medicinal plants from the island
Soqotra. Phytotherapy Research 20, 298–302.
Murillo, R.M., Jakupovic, J., Rivera, J., Castro, V.H., 2001. Diterpenes and
other constituents from Croton draco (Euphorbiaceae). Revista de Biologı́a
Tropical 49, 259–264.
Orozco-Topete, R., Sierra-Madero, J., Cano-Dominguez, C., Kershenovich,
J., Ortiz-Pedroza, G., Vazquez-Valls, E., Garcia-Cosio, C., Soria-Cordoba,
A., Armendariz, A.M., Teran-Toledo, X., Romo-Garcia, J., Fernandez, H.,
Rozhon, E.J., 1997. Safety and efficacy of Virend (R) for topical treatment
of genital and anal herpes simplex lesions in patients with AIDS. Antiviral
Research 35, 91–103.
Pankow, D., 1988. Dungeons and Dragons Blood: the development of late 19th
and early 20th century platemaking processes. Journal of the American
Printing History Association 1, 21–35.
Parkinson, J., 1640. Theatricum Botanlcum. London.
Pearson, J., 2002. Dragons blood. The Horticulturist 11, 10–12.
Pearson, J., Prendergast, D.V., 2001. Collections corner: Daemondrops, Dra-
caena and other Dragons Blood. Economic Botany 55, 474–477.
Perdue, G.P., Blomster, R.N., Blake, D.A., Farnsworth, N.R., 1979. South Amer-
ican plants II: taspine isolation and anti-inflammatory activity. Journal of
Pharmaceutical Sciences 68, 124–125.
Peres, M.T.L.P., Delle Monache, F., Cruz, A.B., Pizzolatti, M.G., Yunes, R.A.,
1997. Chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of Croton urucurana
Baillon (Euphorbiaceae). Journal of Ethnopharmacology 56, 223–226.
Peres, M.T.L.P., Delle Monache, F., Pizzolatti, M.G., Santos, A.R.S., Beirith,
A., Calixto, J.B., Yunes, R.A., 1998a. Analgesic compounds of Croton
urucurana Baillon. Pharmacochemical criteria used in their isolation. Phy-
totherapy Research 12, 209–211.
Peres, M.T.L.P., Pizzolatti, M.G., Yunes, R.A., Delle Monache, F., 1998b. Clero-
dane diterpenes of Croton urucurana. Phytochemistry 49, 171–174.
Phillipson, J.D., 1995. A matter of some sensitivity. Phytochemistry 38,
1319–1343.
Piacente, S., Belisario, M.A., Del Castillo, H., Pizza, C., De Feo, V., 1998. Croton
ruizianus: platelet proaggregating activity of two new pregnane glycoides.
Journal of Natural Products 61, 318–322.
Pieters, L., De Bruyne, T., Claeys, M., Vlietinck, A., Calomme, M., van den
Berghe, D., 1993. Isolation of a dihydrobenzofuran lignan from South Amer-
ican Dragon’s blood (Croton spp.) as an inhibitor of cell proliferation. Journal
of Natural Products 56, 899–906.
Pieters, L., De Bruyne, T., Mei, G., Lemiere, G., Vanden Berghe, D., Vlietinck,
A.J., 1992. In vitro and In vivo biological activity of South Ameri-
379
can Dragon’s Blood and its constituents. Planta Medica Supplement 58,
A582–A583.
Pieters, L., De Bruyne, T., Van Poel, B., Vingerhoets Totté, J., Vanden Berghe,
D., Vlietinck, A., 1995. In vivo wound healing activity of Dragon’s blood
(Croton spp.), a traditional South American drug, and its constituents. Phy-
tomedicine 2, 17–22.
Pieters, L., Vanden Berghe, D., Vlietinck, A.J., 1990. A dihydrobenzofuran
lignan from Croton erythrochilus. Phytochemistry 29, 348–349.
Piozzi, F., Passannanti, S., Paternostro, M.P., Nasini, G., 1974. Diterpenoid resin
acids of Daemonorops draco. Phytochemistry 13, 2231–2233.
Plinius Secundus, 1601. The Historie of the Worlde. London.
Poehland, B.L., Carté, B.K., Francis, T.A., Hyland, L.J., Allaudeen, H.S.,
Troupe, N., 1987. In vitro antiviral activity of Dammar resin triterpenoids.
Journal of Natural Products 50, 706–713.
Ponpipom, M.M., Bugianesi, R.L., Brooker, D.R., Yue, B.Z., Hwang, S.B.,
Shen, T.Y., 1987. Structure–activity relationships of Kadsurenone analogues.
Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 30, 136–142.
Porras-Reyes, B.H., Lewis, W.H., Roman, J., Simchowitz, L., Mustoe, T.A.,
1993. Enhancement of wound healing by the alkaloid taspine defining mech-
anism of action. In: Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology
and Medicine, vol. 203. Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine,
New York, NY, pp. 18–25.
Rao, G.S.R., Gehart, M.A., Lee III, R.T., Mitscher, L.A., Drake, S., 1982.
Antimicrobial agents from higher plants: Dragon’s blood resin. Journal of
Natural Products 45, 646–648.
Risco, E., Ghia, F., Vila, R., Iglesias, J., Alvarez, E., Canigueral, S.,
2003. Immunomodulatory activity and chemical characterization of san-
gre de drago (Dragon’s blood) from Croton lechleri. Planta Medica 69,
785–794.
Robertson, A., Whalley, W.B., 1950. The pigments of “Dragon’s blood” resin.
Part II. A synthesis of dracorhodin. Journal of Chemical Society, 1882–1884.
Rossi, D., Bruni, R., Bianchi, N., Chiarabelli, C., Gambari, R., Medici, A.,
Lista, A., Paganetto, G., 2003. Evaluation of the mutagenic, antimutagenic
and antiproliferative potential of Croton lechleri (Muell. Arg.) latex. Phy-
tomedicine 10, 139–144.
Rozhon, E.J., Khnadwala, A.S., Sabouni, A., 1998. Enteric formulations of
proanthocyanadin polymer antidiarrhoeal compositions. #WO 9816111,
April 23.
Safrin, S., Phan, L., Elbeik, T., 1993. Evaluation of the in vitro activity of SP-303
against clinical isolates of acyclovir-resistant and foscarnet-resistant herpes
simplex virus. Antiviral Research 20, 117.
Sandoval, M., Okuhama, N.N., Clark, M., Angeles, F.M., Lao, J., Bustamante,
S., Miller, M.J.S., 2002. Sangre de grado Croton palanostigma induces apop-
tosis in human gastrointestinal cancer cells. Journal of Ethnopharmacology
80, 121–129.
Sethi, M.L., 1977. Inhibition of RNA-directed DNA polymerase activity of RNA
tumor viruses by taspine. Canadian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences 12,
7–9.
Shen, C.C., Tsai, S.Y., Wei, S.L., Wang, S.T., Shieh, B.J., Chen, C.C., 2007.
Flavonoids isolated from Draconis Resina. Natural product research 4,
377–380.
Sidwell, R.W., Huffman, J.H., Moscon, B.J., Warren, R.P., 1994. Influenza virus-
inhibitory effects of intraperitoneally and aerosol-administered SP-303, a
plant flavanoid. Chemotherapy 40, 42–50.
Soike, K.F., Zhang, J.Y., Meyerson, L.R., 1992. Reduction of respiratory syn-
cytial virus (RSV) shedding in African green monkeys treated with SP-303.
Antiviral Research, 91.
Sollman, T., 1920. A sketch of the medical history of Dragon’s Blood. Journal
of the American Pharmaceutical Association 9, 141–144.
Soukup, J., 1970. Dictionary of the Common Names of Peruvian Flora and
Catalog of the Genuses, vol. 141. Editorial Salesiana, Lima, Peru.
Stern, W.T., 1992. Dictionary of Plant Names for Gardeners. Cassell Publishers
Ltd., London.
Suchý, V., Bobovnický, B., Trojánek, J., Buděsı́nšký, M., Ubik, K., 1991.
Homoisoflavans and other constituents of Dragon’s blood from Dracaena
cinnabari. In: Pezzuto, J.M. (Ed.), Progress on Terrestrial and Marine Natural
Products of Medicinal and Biological Interest. American Botanical Council,
Austin, pp. 110–118.
380 D. Gupta et al. / Journal of Ethnopharmacology 115 (2008) 361–380
ELHAH, 2007. The Eleventh Labor of Hercules: The Apples of The Hesperides.
Trease, G.E., Evans, W.E., 1978. Pharmocognosy, 11th ed. Bailliere Tindall,
London.
Trimble, H., 1895. Report on tannin from an exudation of Pterocarpus draco,
linne, and known in Jamaica as Dragon’s blood. American Journal of Phar-
macy 67, 2.
Tsacheva, I., Rostan, J., Iossifova, T., Vogler, B., Odjakova, M., Navas, H.,
Kostova, I., Kojouharova, M., Kraus, W., 2004. Complement inhibiting prop-
erties of Dragon’s blood from Croton draco. Zeitschrift für Naturforschung
59, 528–532.
Tsai, W.J., Hsieh, H.T., Chen, C.C., Chen, C.F., 1995. Studies on the
vasoactive–antithrombotic effect of Draconis Resina and its components.
Journal of Chinese Medicine 6, 59–73.
Tsai, W.J., Hsieh, H.T., Chen, C.C., Chen, C.F., Kuo, Y.C., Chen,
C.F., 1998. Characterization of the antiplatelet effects of (2S)-5-
methoxy-6-methylflavan-7-ol from Draconis Resina. European Journal of
Pharmacology 346, 103–110.
Ubillas, R., Jolad, S.D., Bruening, R.C., Kernan, M.R., King, S.R., Sesin, D.F.,
Barrett, M., Stoddart, C.A., Flaster, T., Kuo, J., Ayala, F., Meza, E., Castanel,
M., Mc Meekin, D., Rozhon, E., Tempesta, M.S., Barnard, D., Huffman, J.,
Smee, D., Sidwell, R., Soike, K., Brazier, A., Safrin, S., Orlando, R., Kenny,
P.T.M., Berova, N., Nakanishi, K., 1994. SP-303, an antiviral oligomeric
proanthocyanidin from the latex of Croton lechleri (Sangre De Drago).
Phytomedicine 12, 77–106.
Vachalkova, A., Novotny, L., Nejedlikova, M., Suchý, V., 1995. Potential car-
cinogenicity of homoisoflavanoids and flavonoids from Resina sanguinis
draconis (Dracaena cinnabari Balf.). Neoplasma 42, 313–316.
Vaisberg, A.J., Milla, M., As, M.C., Córdova, J.L., Rosas de Agusti, E., Ferreyra,
R., Mustiga, M.C., Carlin, L., Hammon, G.B., 1989. Taspine is the cicatrizant
principle in Sangre de Grado extracted from Croton lechleri. Planta Medica
55, 140–143.
Veselá, D., Marek, R., Ubik, K., Lunerová, K., Sklenář, V., Suchý, V., 2002. Dra-
cophane, a metacyclophane derivative from the resin of Dracaena cinnabari
Balf. Phytochemistry 61, 967–970.
Wang, J., Ruan, D., Cheng, Z., Zhou, L., 1999. Phytoalexins in Dracaena
cochinchinensis resin. Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology 10, 255–256.
Wang, J.L., Li, X.C., Jiang, D.F., Yang, C.R., 1995. Chemical constituents of
Dragon’s blood resin from Dracaena cochinchinensis in Yunnan and their
antifungal activity. Acta Botanica Yunnanica 17, 336–340.
Wyde, P.R., Ambrose, M.W., Meyerson, L.R., Gilbert, B.E., 1993. The antiviral
activity of SP-303, a natural polyphenolic polymer, against respiratory syn-
cytial and parainfluenza type 3 viruses in cotton rats. Antiviral Research 20,
145–154.
Wyde, P.R., Meyerson, L.R., Ambrose, M.W., Pfeifer, J.P., Voss, T.G., Gilbert,
B.E., 1991. Elucidation of a polyphenolic polymer with antiviral activity
against myxo- and paramyxoviruses. Antiviral Research, 67.
Xia, M., Wang, M., Tashiro, S.I., Onodera, S., Minami, M., Ikejima, T., 2004.
Dracorhodin perchlorate induces apoptosis via activation of caspases and
generation of reactive oxygen species. Journal of Pharmacological Sciences
95, 273–283.
Xia, M., Wang, M., Tashiro, S.I., Onodera, S., Minami, M., Ikejima, T., 2005.
Dracorhodin perchlorate induces A375-S2 cell apoptosis via accumulation
of p53 and activation of caspases. Biological Pharmaceutical Bulletin 28,
226–232.
Xia, M.Y., Wang, M.W., Cui, Z., Tashiro, S.I., Onodera, S., Minami, M., Ikejima,
T., 2006. Dracorhodin perchlorate induces apoptosis in HL-60 cells. Journal
of Asian Natural Products Research 8, 335–343.
Xia, M.Y., Wang, M.W., Wang, H.R., Tashiro, S., Ikejima, T., 2004. Mechanism
of dracorhodin perchlorate-induced Hela cell apoptosis. Yao Xue Xue Bao
39, 966–970.
Zheng, Q.A., Chen, J.T., Zhang, Y.J., Yang, C.R., 2004. Origin and dif-
fusion of Dragons Blood, a famous folk herb—see info.kib.ac.cn/
kibinfoEN/soft/2941.html.
Zheng, Q.A., Li, H.Z., Zhang, Y.J., Yang, C.R., 2006a. Dracaenogenins A and B,
new spirostanols from the red resin of Dracaena cochinchinensis. Steroids
71, 160–164.
Zheng, Q.A., Yang, C.R., 2003a. Dracanoside A and B, new C-22 steroidal
lactone glycosides from the stem of Dracaena cochinchinensis. Chinese
Chemical Letters 14, 1261–1264.
Zheng, Q.A., Yang, C.R., 2003b. Pregnane glycosides from Dracaena cochinchi-
nensis. Journal of Asian Natural Products Research 5, 291–296.
Zheng, Q.A., Zhang, Y.J., Li, H.Z., Yang, C.R., 2004b. Flavonoids from
Dragon’s Blood of Dracaena cochinchinensis. Helvetica Chimica Acta 87,
1267–1271.
Zheng, Q.A., Zhang, Y.J., Li, H.Z., Yang, C.R., 2004c. Steroidal saponins from
fresh stems of Dracaena cochinchinensis. Steroids 69, 111–119.
Zheng, Q.A., Zhang, Y.J., Yang, C.R., 2006b. A new meta-homoisoflavane
from the fresh stems of Dracaena cochinchinensis. Journal of Asian Natural
Products Research 8, 571–577.
Zhou, Z.H., Wang, J.L., Yang, C.R., 2001a. Cochinchinenin-a new chalcone
dimer from the Chinese Dragon’s blood. Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica 36,
200–204.
Zhou, Z.H., Wang, J.L., Yang, C.R., 2001b. Chemical constituents of san-
guis draconis made in China. Chinese Traditional and Herbal Drugs 32,
484–486.
 Table 3. Gums, resins and latexes': exports from Indonesia, by type, 1988-93
(tonnes; US$ millions)

1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993

Total 17114 33236 40531 41270 35052 41961

FOB value 9.8 19.6 24.8 23.4 22.1 24.9

Of which:
Damarb 10343 11372 10878 12573 10175 13285
Jelutongc 2358 5373 6495 3700 2712
1182
Copal 2485 1811 1766 1880 1863 1886
Gum arabicd 2937 2050 2405 1988 361
Benzoine 1157 975 884 1126 806 824
Lac 411 227 703 221 245 311
Gutta percha 3 75 156 316 366 241
Dragon's blood 26 59 71 87 47 25
Gahuru 39 44 47 181 204
"Other gum"f 107 9947 16557 18602 16454 23255
"Other resin" 129 391 927 311 177 387
Others 95 30 2 38 -

Source: National statistics

Notes: a Excludes agar-agar (a seaweed gum) and "Resin pine" (= pine rosin, a processed product
of crude pine resin).
b Includes "Damar", "Resin batu" and "Resin mata kucing" (see section on DAMAR).
c Includes raw, pressed, refined, and other.
d Very improbable that this is genuine gum arabic.
e Classified as "Frankincense" (see footnote to Table 23).
f From 1989, it is probable that a large proportion of this is crude pine resin.