Dragon"s Blood is made from the fresh resin of the South American Croton lechleri tree. In the bottle, the resin is a very dark and quite thick reddish brown color, but when put on the skin, it becomes transparent and makes a natural sterile bandage. It belongs in absolutely every medicine cabinet and backpack. When I was in Europe, we used this in the operating room to reduce (well almost totally eliminate) bleeding. I moved my hand behind the surgeon's and dripped the resin into the areas where he was cutting. This made for much easier wound management, little or no blood loss, much less pain from cuts and injuries, and very quick healing. I absolutely love this resin and never cease to be fascinated by the gifts of Nature nor the traditions of ethnobotany.
Besides wound healing, studies suggest that dragon"s blood is useful for gastric ulcers. Among other things, it seems to result in the thickening of the mucous membrane of the stomach. It has also proved helpful for diarrhea, especially that suffered by persons with AIDS, and in vitro studies suggest that the latex has apoptotic effects on certain types of cancer cells. It appears to be antimutagenic also.