Does dragon blood in the Muggle world really have twelve uses?

As we all know, the only known paper by Professor Albus Dumbledore lists the twelve uses of dragon's blood . In the wizarding world, dragon's blood usually refers to blood extracted from various fire dragons, which has a variety of magical properties.

But at the same time, we also noticed that dragon's blood frequently appeared in the list of medicines of Muggles. Unlike wizards, the dragon's blood that Muggles refer to is not produced by fire dragons. In fact, they do not believe that there are still living fire dragons or ordinary dragons. They just call a kind of resin that is as red as blood dragon's blood. Since wizards have never really left the Muggle world, the meaning and use of dragon's blood may be affected. Today we will explain and analyze this in detail.

Condensed "dragon's blood" | Maša Sinreih in Valentina Vivod / wiki commons

The magical tree of Socotra

The Socotra Province of Yemen governs a group of islands located between the Strait of Guadalfui and the Arabian Sea. The largest island in the archipelago is called Socotra Island, which is located 350 kilometers south of the Arabian Peninsula and about 250 kilometers east of the Horn of Africa.

Map of Socotra Archipelago | Oona Räisänen / wiki commons

Although it doesn't look that remote, it was separated from the Gondwana supercontinent at least 18 million years ago in the Miocene and has maintained a relatively independent ecosystem. There are many unique species on the island that can't be found anywhere else in the world , so in 2008, the Muggle UNESCO listed the Socotra Islands on the World Heritage List , which means they think it is one of the most valuable places in the world.

Canyons on the Diksum Plateau, Socotra Island | Gerry & Bonni / wiki commons

The most famous species on the island is the Socotra Dragon Blood Tree (Dracaena cinnabari), which has a large, distinctive umbrella-shaped crown that helps it retain moisture in the island’s arid environment while also providing shade for its seeds.

Indeed, we rarely encounter trees of this appearance in the magical world. | Boris Khvostichenko / wiki commons

Muggles love a type of movie theme called "science fiction". Because the Socotra dragon blood tree has a strange appearance (in the words of Muggles, it "doesn't look like a tree on Earth at all"), Socotra Island and its dragon blood trees often appear in the filming of such alien-themed movies.

If you told me this was an alien planet with giant green mushrooms, I'd bet a lot of Muggles would believe it. | Rod Waddington / wiki commons

What is more famous is the red sap that flows out of it, which is what we call "dragon's blood" today. As early as the first century AD, an unknown businessman recorded this specialty in the "A Voyage Around Eritrea" under the name "cinnabar" (the specific epithet cinnabari of the dragon's blood tree also means cinnabar). In his "Natural History", Pliny the Elder of ancient Greece vividly introduced the legend of a dragon and an elephant fighting to the death, and the dragon's blood fell on the island, forming "dragon's blood".

In fact, "cinnabar" is a mineral whose chemical composition is mercury sulfide | Kurt Story / mindat.org

Twelve Uses for Muggle Dragon's Blood

Of course, to us wizards, this red sap can't be real dragon blood, but it has many uses in the Muggle world.

One of the biggest uses of dragon's blood is as a medicine . For people in ancient Socotra, Greece, Rome, Arabia and other places, dragon's blood is a panacea . It can be used to stop bleeding, treat diarrhea, reduce fever, and treat various pains. In the 19th century, there was even toothpaste containing dragon's blood. Even in modern times, the elderly in Yemen still drink dragon's blood soaked in goat's milk, believing that it is good for the body.

However, it is doubtful how useful this ancient remedy really is, and the only "effects" verified by Muggle scientists seem to be stimulant and abortifacient effects.

Here's a toothpaste recipe with dragon's blood | Seb Bacon / universeodon

Another use of dragon's blood is as a dye. Red has always been one of the most popular colors due to its similarity to human blood. It has been endowed with the meaning of life, passion, and enthusiasm since ancient times. The red color of dragon's blood is used to dye textiles and leather, or made into lacquer for furniture and violins.

There is a theory that the famous Stradivari violins were painted with dragon's blood. But it is difficult to get direct evidence for this theory - the analysis of the violin's paint surface usually requires obtaining a little bit of the paint surface, and Stradivari violins are extremely valuable and rarely allowed to be "damaged" in this way. Therefore, not many Stradivari violins have been tested so far, and no substance suspected of dragon's blood has been found in them, but the red color of cochineal has been detected instead.

Stradivarius "Quartet" on display at the Smithsonian | si.edu

But there is always a reason for the smoke. At least in some 16th-century craftsmen's notes, they did use this material to mix varnish to get a translucent red color. However, dragon's blood lacquer does not seem to stand the test of time . The Getty Museum once conducted an experiment in which various lacquers were placed on the windowsill in direct sunlight for six months, and the dragon's blood lacquer was almost completely discolored. Some modern violin makers have also complained that dragon's blood lacquer will change from its original red color to a greenish color after a short period of time.

A violin painted with dragon serum lacquer, with only a small part of it left | darntonviolins.com

In addition, dragon's blood may be used as glue (when making "sandwich stones" to impersonate precious gems), or as a spice (but in fact, the resin itself does not have any special aroma), or used in magic and sacrifice - after all, it is called dragon's blood.

The so-called interlayer stone is simply two gemstones glued together. Generally, the more expensive natural gemstone is used as the top layer, and the cheaper glass or synthetic gemstone is used as the bottom layer. The top layer determines the luster of the gemstone, while the bottom layer material and the glue used can affect the final color of the gemstone. | ​​gemrockauctions.com

Clarifying the Origin of "Muggle Dragon Blood"

As with many expensive commodities in the Muggle world, the same name does not mean the same substance , and the dragon's blood used by Muggles is no exception.

Modern archaeologists know from samples found in various places that the dragon's blood of Socotra is indeed a world-class trade item , and its traces have been found all over the world. But in addition, several other trees under the genus Dracaena, such as the Canary Islands dragon tree (D. draco) and the Arabian dragon tree (D. schizantha), their red sap is also sold under the name of "dragon's blood".

Judging from their ancient uses, these "dragon bloods" coming from different species of the genus Dracaena should have similar effects.

The Canary Islands Dragon Blood Tree, 'Millennium Dragon', in Ico de los Vinos, Tenerife, is probably the largest of its kind, aged between 800 and 1,000 years | Mike Peel / wiki commons

More trouble is yet to come - in fact, there is another thing called "dragon blood" that is not quite the same as it is called, the Chinese medicine "Xuejie". "Xuejie" is a medicinal material made from red juice, which comes from the palm vine Calamus draco in Southeast Asia.

Plant, leaves and flowers of Euphorbia cerasifera | Köhler FE / Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen

But recent studies have shown that the traditional Chinese medicine "Xuejie" was actually once the "dragon blood" of Socotra Island .

In the earliest records, Qilinjie refers to the red juice extracted from tree bark that came from the West. Its origin, source and name are similar to "Dragon's blood". However, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, perhaps due to cost reasons , the "vine jelly" imported from Southeast Asia gradually became confused with the "blood jelly" originally extracted from trees, and eventually replaced the name of blood jelly. The "blood jelly" in modern Chinese medicine actually refers specifically to the blood jelly extracted from Qilinjie, and it is also sold under the English name Dragon's blood.

A block of kirinjal and what it looks like after being ground | Andy Dingley / wiki commons

Later, researchers discovered that a similar red sap could be extracted from the sword-leaved dragon blood tree (D. cochinchinensis), which is native to Yunnan and is related to the Socotra dragon blood tree. They called it "domestic dragon blood" or "dragon blood". This may be a return to the origin .

The sap produced by the big trees on Socotra Island is named dragon's blood because of its shape, and is given various magical effects because of the name . Professor Dumbledore referred to various historical documents in his paper on the uses of dragon's blood. We have reason to question whether the dragon's blood recorded in those documents is the fire dragon's blood we use today, or the sap, or the vine juice?

Author:antares

Editor: Old Cat

Cover image source: Boris Khvostichenko / wiki commons

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