Prosea Newsletter. No. 35 Oktober, 2005 Daemonorops draco (Willd.

) Blume
Daemonorops is the second largest rattan genus after Calamus. It has about 115 species occurring mainly Southeast Asian countries. Daemonorops is divided into two sections based on the structure of the inflorescence, i.e. section Daemonorops (formerly known as section Cymbospatha) which has concave boat-shaped bracts at anthesis completely enclosed by the first bract, splitting longitudinally to expose the flowers, and section Piptospatha where the bracts split to the base and only lower part is enclosed by the first bract (Beccari, The species of Daemonorops, 1911). The bracts of section Piptospatha usually fall at anthesis and the prophyll sometimes remains. The most important product of Daemonorops section Piptospatha is dragon's blood powder, in Malaysia and Indonesia known as jernang. At one time the red resin 'dragon's blood' from the fruits of some species was an item of trade between Borneo, Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula and China (Uhl & Dransfield, Genera palmarum, 1987). The stems of members of the dragon's blood group of Daemonorops (as with other rattans) are covered by tightly sheathing, densely spiny leaf sheaths. The diameter of the stem with the leaf sheaths can vary from a few mm to over 10 em, whereas leaves consist of a tubular sheathing base, the leaf sheath, which arises from the node of the stem; at its upper end, the sheath narrows into the petiole that continues into the rachis or leaflet-bearing portion of the leaf. Spine arrangement on the leaf sheath is remarkably diverse and frequently of diagnostic importance. Dragon's blood species are confined to Malaysia, Thailand and West Indonesia. Since their distribution seems to be only in part of West Southeast Asia, these species are said to be endemic to that region. They are a natural unit but taxa within the unit have diverged because of isolation or adaptation. As long as the isolation exists, each species will tend to become slightly different from the others. Secondly, their confinement might be because of the fact that they have only recently evolved and have not yet had time to spread from their centers of origin (Rustiami, Setyowati & Kartawinata, Journal of Tropical Ethnobiology 1(2): 65-75, 2004) Daemonorops draco or locally known as rotan jernang is distributed in West Sumatra, Bengkulu, South Sumatra, Jambi, Riau and Lampung, restricted to one island only. This geographical isolation can lead to allopatric speciation, where population is segregated by a geographical barrier. A population may become geographically isolated when individuals from the parent population colonize a new location (Campbell, Biology, 4th ed., 1996). This species can be found in hill slope and valley bottom, in lower montane primary forest up to 1000 malt. Jernang can also be obtained from the related species of D. draco such as D. brachystachys, D. dransfieldii or D. acehensis which also occur in Sumatra island, but the resin compound is quite few. Mogea (2005, pers. comm.) said that only recently China was interested in importing 300 kg of jernang powder per month, but Indonesia was not able to provide that

amount, because in a month only a few kg of top quality jernang powder can be produced. There is no jernang plantation until now; local people harvested fruits directly from the forest. The species population disturlrclnce or even forest disturbance will happen during collection of the fruits. Conservation act is badly needed especially when the demand of jernang powder is increasing rapidly. Rustiami (Kew Bulletin 57: 729-733, 2002) reported that based on the amount of red resin on its fruit scale, D. siberutensis has a potential economic value as a substitute of D. draco. However, there is no report on the uses of its red resin up to now considering that the species is just newly found. The species of rotan jernang have long been used by some tribes in Sumatra particularly within the area of Bukit Tiga Puluh National Park (BTPNP) in the border of Riau and Jambi Province. The activities on using rotan jernang can be found in tribe Talang Mamak and Anak Dalam (Kubu). These tribes are known as nomadic people because they do not have permanent places to stay and each time they shift within BTPNP and its surrounding area. For daily living they are very dependent upon forest resources inCluding nontimber plants, such as rotan jernang. Making jernang is not quite easy. First, the fruits collected are dried in the sun. Then they are put in a basket, hit by using wooden stick and shaken (Fig. 1). The frictions remove the resin which falls through the basket into a cloth placed below, as a gritty powder (Fig. 2). This pOWder after being pounded into dust, is softened by means of hot water then put into a plastic bag. This powder can be moulded into cakes and sticks (Fig. 3). An alternative technique to make jernang powder is as follows: mature fruits are dried in the sun, then the fruit scales are scrapped with cockle-shells to get the red resin out, then the resin are wrapped in a cloth, softened with hot water and moulded (Dransfield & Manokaran, Plant Resources of South-East Asia 6: Rattans, 1994). In Europe, dragon's blood has been used as antidysentery and anti-diarrhoea, also as astringent in tooth-powders. Only a small amount of dragon's blood has been used in Malaysia in medical treatment such as for digestive problem, stomach-ache and sprue. The chemical composition of dragon's blood is as follows: resin alcohol 'draco-resinotannol' 56%, benzoic acid and benzolactic acid (Burkill, A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula, 1935). The red resin can be used to colour varnishes and lacquers. Once it was valued as a medicine because of its astringent properties, but now is used as a varnish for violins and in photoengraving for preventing undercutting of the printing surface (Lombeyda, All you ever wanted to know about dragon's blood, 1991). Furthermore, in China it is commonly used as anti-cancer and anti-bleeding. Widjaja (2005, pers. comm.) explained that she had an experience in using jernang powder when she had an accident and her feet bled. She putjernang powder on the bleeding part to stop bleeding. Himmah Rustiami RCB, LlPI, Indonesia