Through comprehensive study on the descriptions of dragon's blood in traditional medical books, we pointed out that before Tang Dynasty, Butea monosperma was used as dragon's blood; during Tang and Song Dynasty, Liquidambar formosana. was used as dragon's blood; in Commentaries on the illustrations of Song Dynasty, the author made a mistake by combined the descriptions of Butea monosperma with the descriptions of the prepared medicine of Dracaena cochinchinensis in dragon's blood, and thus the oversea species D. cochinchinensis became the mainstream of dragon's blood source in homeland. Until the foundation of the Republic of China, Daemonorops draco replaced D. cochinchinensis to the main source of dragon's blood.
Keywords: dragon′s blood; herbal textual study; species.
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