Ingredients · July 2026In this article
- Sangre de Drago is the red resin of Croton lechleri, a tree of the Peruvian Amazon whose name means dragon's blood.
- This sap has been gathered for centuries by the Shipibo people, with whom Jaina has held a direct relationship since 2017.
- It appears in three Ritual Objects: Petal and Rain, Amazonian Alchemist and Luminous Rose. A second form of dragon's blood, an oil extracted through biofermentation, runs through the entire Amazonian Alchemist range.
- Croton lechleri has been the subject of scientific research since the 1980s, documented further below for informational purposes on the plant itself.
Deep in the Peruvian Amazon grows a tree whose bark bleeds when cut. The Shipibo call it Sangre de Drago — dragon's blood. This dense red sap is one of the ingredients found in three of our Ritual Objects.
Croton lechleri grows in the humid regions of Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, sometimes reaching more than ten metres tall, under broad heart-shaped leaves. It's this sap, collected drop by drop by hand, that gives its name and its colour to the ingredient we carry all the way to our workshops.
The gesture of the Shipibo healers
For centuries, the peoples of the Peruvian Amazon have gathered this sap and passed the knowledge down from generation to generation, kept rather than written. It was in 2017, on a founding trip to Pucallpa, that Jihène met the Shipibo community and its healers, Alberto and Maria. From that meeting came a direct relationship, built on trust and shared time, which continues to shape every Jaina Ritual Object to this day.
The sap that seals the tree's wounded bark has become, in this tradition, a symbol of the protective gesture we can offer ourselves. At Jaina, Sangre de Drago is called on both for its promise of efficacy and for what it carries: a colour, an enveloping texture, a plant memory, and a lineage tied to the land that gave rise to it.
In the Amazon, Sangre de Drago is used as the ultimate healing agent — as a disinfectant and wound-healer on cuts, internally for ulcers, applied vaginally for vaginitis, and as a mouth rinse and gargle for sore throats and mouth ulcers.
Found in three Ritual Objects
Sangre de Drago lends its soothing, regenerating character here, along with its deep red-black pigment, grounding the ritual in the forest's raw matter.
Here, the resin takes centre stage and gives the balm its spirit — a direct tribute to the sap and its land. Sangre de Drago is worked in as an oil extract, bringing its soothing, restorative character.
Sangre de Drago slips in as a discreet note here, a red thread beneath the rose, again as an oil extract — Amazonian heritage meeting a gesture of light.
A lineage, more than a raw material
Sangre de Drago doesn't enter our Ritual Objects as just another ingredient. It carries with it a relationship, a land, a face. It is harvested with the Shipibo community of the Pucallpa region, in keeping with the tree's own rhythm. 10% of Jaina Paris's revenue goes toward Amazonian reforestation, across thirty hectares monitored over the long term — and part of what's planted will be Sangre de Drago.
Each tree takes ten years before it can be harvested. This isn't an investment we're making in ourselves, but a legacy to future generations — a small act of repair for what our generation destroyed through ignorance.
What research is studying in Croton lechleri
Two compounds in the resin were identified by researchers as the plant's primary markers, isolated in the late 1980s and early 1990s.1,2
A Belgian study compared the raw resin to its isolated compounds and measured a difference in efficacy in favour of the whole plant's natural synergy.2
Researchers at the University of Calgary studied the sap's activity on inflammatory models and on signal transmission along nerve fibres.3
Antioxidant properties of the resin were documented by French researchers, through its effect on free radical production in the lab.4
A molecule derived from the plant, extracted and then synthesised by the pharmaceutical industry, underwent clinical trials and received US market approval in 2012 as a prescription drug.5
A literature review compiled more than two decades of research on the plant, from traditional uses documented as early as the 17th century through to contemporary clinical trials.6
1. Vaisberg, A., et al. "Taspine is the cicatrizant principle in sangre de grado extracted from Croton lechleri." Planta Medica, 1989. PubMed
2. Pieters, L., et al. "Isolation of a dihydrobenzofuran lignan from South American dragon's blood as an inhibitor of cell proliferation." Journal of Natural Products, 1993. PubMed
3. Miller, M., et al. "Inhibition of neurogenic inflammation by the Amazonian herbal medicine sangre de grado." Journal of Investigative Dermatology, 2001. PubMed
4. Desmarchelier, C., et al. "Effects of sangre de drago from Croton lechleri on the production of active oxygen radicals." Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 1997. PubMed
5. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), market approval, 2012 · Frampton, J., et al. Drugs, 2013. PubMed
6. Jones, K. "Review of sangre de drago (Croton lechleri)." Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 2003. PubMed
All of this research is indexed on PubMed under Croton lechleri.
Frequently asked questions
What is Sangre de Drago?
Sangre de Drago, also known as Sangre de Grado, is the red resin of Croton lechleri, a tree of the Amazon rainforest in Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. Its name literally means dragon's blood, a reference to the dark sap that flows when the bark is cut.
Where does the Sangre de Drago used by Jaina Paris come from?
It comes from the Pucallpa region of Peru, where Jaina has held a direct relationship with the Shipibo community since a founding trip in 2017. Alberto and Maria's family gather Sangre de Drago from the trees in their village, taking great care to collect only the strict minimum so as not to exhaust the tree — no more than two tappings a year, no more than 150ml per tapping.
Which Ritual Objects contain Sangre de Drago?
The Petal and Rain mask, the Amazonian Alchemist balm and the Luminous Rose serum.
Has Sangre de Drago been studied scientifically?
Yes, Croton lechleri has been the subject of academic research since the 1980s, indexed on PubMed. These studies concern the plant itself, not Jaina Paris Ritual Objects, which claim none of the effects described in them.
Related Ritual Objects
This page presents the cultural, botanical and scientific history of Sangre de Drago for informational purposes; it does not constitute a claim about the effects of our Ritual Objects.