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Sangre de grado is a medium-sized to large tree that grows from ***0 m high in the upper Amazon region of Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia. Although tall, the trunk is usually less than *0 cm in diameter and is covered by smooth, mottled bark. It has large, heart-shaped, bright-green leaves and unique, greenish-white flowers on long stalks. Its Peruvian name, sangre de grado, means blood of the dragon (in Spanish). In Ecuador, its named sangre de drago (which means dragons blood as well). When the trunk of the tree is cut or wounded, a dark red, sappy resin oozes out as if the tree is bleeding—earning this local name. The genus Croton is a large one, with **0 species of trees and shrubs distributed across the tropical and subtropical regions of both hemispheres. Crotons are rich in active alkaloids, and several species are well-known medicinal plants used as purgatives and tonics.

TRIBAL AND HERBAL MEDICINE USES
Sangre de grado's red sap or latex (and also its bark) has a long history of indigenous use in the rainforest and in South America. The earliest written reference dates its use to the ***0s, when Spanish naturalist and explorer P. Bernab Cobo found that the curative power of the sap was widely known throughout the indigenous tribes of Mexico, Peru, and Ecuador. For centuries, the sap has been painted on wounds to staunch bleeding, to accelerate healing, and to seal and protect injuries from infection. The sap dries quickly and forms a barrier, much like a "second skin." It is used externally by indigenous tribes and local people in Peru for wounds, fractures, and hemorrhoids, internally for intestinal and stomach ulcers, and as a douche for vaginal discharge. Other indigenous uses include treating intestinal fevers and inflamed or infected gums, in vaginal baths before and after childbirth, for hemorrhaging after childbirth, and for skin disorders.
Sangre de grado resin and bark are used in traditional medicine in South America today in much the same manner as indigenous ones. In Peruvian herbal medicine it is recommended for hemorrhaging, as an antiseptic vaginal douche and, topically, for healing wounds. It is also used internally for ulcers in the mouth, throat, intestines and stomach; as an antiviral for upper respiratory viruses, stomach viruses and HIV; internally and externally for cancer and, topically, for skin disorders, insect bites and stings. In Brazilian traditional medicine the sap currently is used for wounds, hemorrhaging, diarrhea, mouth ulcers, and as a general tonic.

PLANT CHEMICALS
Sangre de grado resin or sap is a storehouse of phytochemicals including proanthocyanidins (antioxidants), simple phenols, diterpenes, phytosterols, and biologically active alkaloids and lignans Scientists have attributed many of the biologically active properties of the sap (especially its wound-healing capacity) to two main "active" constituents: an alkaloid named taspine, and a lignan nameddimethylcedrusine.



Excerpt from Tropical Plant Database
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