HERB - Yet another question

[Gaylin Walli]

>I was reading in a book the other day and they mentioned  a couple of herbs
>I can't seem to track down. Has anybody ever heard of Dragon's Blood or High
John the Conqueror?

Daemomorops draco is usually considered the botanical name of
Dragon's Blood if I am not mistaken. The substance is really the
resinous-like substance that covers the fruiting member of the
plant when it is ripe. There are also other varieties of Dragon's
Blood around the world, some from trees (Dracaena Draco and
Pterocarpus Draco of the East Indies, Dracaena terminalis in
China, just to name a few). Interestingly, several references
in non-period books list Dragon's Blood as part of an effective
treatment against syphyllis, though I've not read any scientific
research supporting this.

Now, High John the Conqueror is a little more troublesome.
I *think* this is Exagonium jalap, and it's very popular in
African and African American culture. Very popular in their
magickal belief system as well. I think another name for it,
actually is Jalap Root, if one of my coworkers is right. But
other than that, my knowledge is limited. Maybe someone
else has more info?

Jasmine
Iasmin de Cordoba, gwalli at infoengine.com

PS: I hate it when my library is at home and I'm not.

============================================================================
Go to http://lists.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list tasks.