''Mallotus resinosus'', the resinous kamala , is a species of 12m tall shrub, evergreen

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

in the family

Euphorbiaceae Euphorbiaceae, the spurge family, is a large family of flowering plants. In English, they are also commonly called euphorbias, which is also the name of a genus in the family. Most spurges, such as ''Euphorbia paralias'', are herbs, but some, e ...

. It is native to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The plant is known as "கருவாளிச்சீ / karuvalichchi" by Tamil people.

Leaves

Elliptic to obovate; base attenuate; margin serrate.

Flowers

Inflorescence - present, where male flowers are clustered and unbranched. Female flowers are also unbranched, but with 3

locule A locule (plural locules) or loculus (plural loculi) (meaning "little place" in Latin) is a small cavity or compartment within an organ or part of an organism (animal, plant, or fungus). In angiosperms (flowering plants), the term ''locule'' usu ...

s and few short spines.

Fruits

Globose seeded capsule.

Chemistry

Scientists found a simple

coumarin Coumarin () or 2''H''-chromen-2-one is an aromatic organic chemical compound with formula . Its molecule can be described as a benzene molecule with two adjacent hydrogen atoms replaced by a lactone-like chain , forming a second six-membered h ...

, called

Scopoletin Scopoletin is a coumarin. It found in the root of plants in the genus ''Scopolia'' such as ''Scopolia carniolica'' and ''Scopolia japonica'', in chicory, in '' Artemisia scoparia'', in the roots and leaves of stinging nettle (''Urtica dioica''), i ...

from the root extraction of resinous kamala. It was identified as the active principle responsible for DNA cleavage activity during the extraction process. The chemical was once thought that it was only found within plants of the genus, ''

Scolopia ''Scolopia'' is an Old World genus of plants in the family Salicaceae. Species include: * ''Scolopia braunii'' ( Klotzsch) & Sleumer - an Australian rainforest tree *''Scolopia buxifolia'' Gagnep. *''Scolopia chinensis'' (Lour.) Clos *''Scolop ...

''.

References

resinosus Flora of tropical Asia Flora of Australia Taxa named by Francisco Manuel Blanco {{Euphorbiaceae-stub