Table 1.

Dragon blood-producing plants used in traditional Chinese medicine

Plant family	Plant species	Origin	History used in TCM
Asparagaceae	Dracaena cinnabari	Socotra Island, Yemen	Import into China via silk road after Tang Dynasty between AD 651 and AD 798. Silk road was closed until the 15th Century. Import was suspended.
	Dracaena cochinchinensis	Yunnan Province, China	Discovered in China after AD 1972 for the demand of treating wounds after the Vietnam war.
Arecaceae	Daemonorops draco	Indonesia and Malaysia	Import into China via sea transportation after Ming Dynasty, between AD 1368 and AD 1644 until now.

Plant family

Plant species

Origin

History used in TCM

Asparagaceae

Dracaena cinnabari

Socotra Island, Yemen

Import into China via silk road after Tang Dynasty between AD 651 and AD 798. Silk road was closed until the 15th Century. Import was suspended.

Dracaena cochinchinensis

Yunnan Province,

China

Discovered in China after AD 1972 for the demand of treating wounds after the Vietnam war.

Arecaceae

Daemonorops draco

Indonesia and Malaysia

Import into China via sea transportation after Ming Dynasty, between AD 1368 and AD 1644 until now.