Fibraurea tinctoria

Fibraurea tinctoria is a species of flowering plant native to South Asia, where it grows in wet tropical areas between India and the Philippines. It is considered locally common. It fruits in April and May, producing yellow-orange drupes. Common names for this plant include yellow root (East Kalimantan), akar palo (Aceh), and akar kuning (Central Kalimantan).

Research

The plant is used in Indonesian traditional medicine, primarily because it contains berberine, an isoquinoline alkaloid under preliminary research to identify its possible properties.

During a field observation, a male Sumatran orangutan, known to researchers as Rakus, chewed vine leaves and applied the masticated plant material to an open wound on his face. According to primatologists who had been observing Rakus at a nature preserve, "Five days later the facial wound was closed, while within a few weeks it had healed, leaving only a small scar".

References

External links

• Media related to Fibraurea tinctoria at Wikimedia Commons

1. Fibraurea
2. Berberine
3. Sumatran orangutan
4. Orangutan
5. List of trees of Cambodia
6. Zoopharmacognosy
7. Bushy-crested hornbill