The purpose is to make plain some terms in early Chinese literature which refer to red woods and red resins. The rosewood of antiquity was <i>Dalbergia hupeana, Sandalwood (Santalum album), Sanderswood (Pterocarpus indicus), Hainanese Rosewood (Dalbergia hainanensis) and Indonesian Laka-wood (Dalbergia parviflora) are rosewood varieties used for dyes, incense and other special purposes. Red resins from different sources were called Dragon's Blood . Most important were Socotran Dragon's Blood from species of Dracaena, Indonesian gum-kino from species of Pterocarpus and Indonesian Dragon's Blood from species of Daemonorops. Lac dye from the female lac insect was imported from southern Asia as early as Han times. Chinese characters for numerous natural products are listed, and transliterations are also provided.