''Pterocarpus marsupium'', also known as Malabar kino or Indian kino, is a medium-to-large,

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

tree that can grow up to tall. It is native to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

(where it occurs in parts of the Western Ghats in the

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

region and in the forests of Central India),

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

, and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. File:Pterocarpus marsupium bark.jpg, ''Pterocarpus marsupium'' bark File:Pterocarpus marsupium 1.jpg, ''Pterocarpus marsupium'' tree File:Pterocarpus marsupium seeds - Kunming Botanical Garden - DSC03234.JPG, ''Pterocarpus marsupium'' seeds (

Kunming Botanical Garden Kunming Institute of Botany, or KIB (), founded in 1938, is a research institution in the field of Botany, which is located in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, China. The Institute is one of the major herbariums in China and maintains a co ...

)

Phytochemistry

''Pterocarpus marsupium'' contains 2,3,6-trimethyl-1,4- naphthoquinone (also called 2,3,6-trimethylnaphthalene-1,4-dione or TM-NQ), which,

in vitro ''In vitro'' (meaning ''in glass'', or ''in the glass'') Research, studies are performed with Cell (biology), cells or biological molecules outside their normal biological context. Colloquially called "test-tube experiments", these studies in ...

, is a reversible

monoamine oxidase inhibitor Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) are a drug class, class of drugs that inhibit the activity of one or both monoamine oxidase enzymes: monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) and monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B). They are best known as effective antidepressa ...

occurring in tobacco leaf, and may cause skin, eye and respiratory irritation.

References

External links

marsupium Flora of the Indian subcontinent {{Dalbergieae-stub