ABSTRACT
Kino (also keenow) gum is defined as a gum obtained from various tropical plants, and used as an astringent and in tanning. East Indian and Malabar kino are a reddish or black juice or resin from certain trees of the genus Pterocarpus and are used in medicine and tanning (Howes, 1949). Another definition of kino is any of several dark red to black tannin-containing dried juices or
extracts obtained from various tropical trees-especially the dried juice usually obtained from the trunk of an Indian and Sri Lankan tree (Pterocarpus marsupium) as brown or black fragments and used as an astringent in diarrhea; or it is a tree that produces kino (especially P. marsupium) (https://www.britannica.com). One example of kino is produced from Butea monosperma, which is a medium-size deciduous tree with a crooked trunk that is up to 5 m in length by 60 cm in diameter, native of India, Burma and Ceylon and introduced into a few tropical countries as an ornamental, for example, Nigeria. e very light wood is white or yellowish-brown. e common names of the tree and gum are flame of the forest and Bengal kino, respectively (Fig. 1.4).
