Abstract
Tropical woods may cause contact dermatitis. 1 Dalbergia latifolia Roxb. (vernacular names : English: East Indian rosewood, Bombay blackwood ; French : palissandre d'Asie ; German : Ostindisches Palisanderholz) is an exotic hardwood belonging to the family of Leguminosae-Papilionaceae. The tree grows in Asia (India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka) to a fullgrown height of 30 m. It is exported mainly from South India. Its wood is of high commercial value and used in making veneers for furniture because of its strength and attractive appearance. It is also used to make objects of art, jewels, desk accessories, knife handles, and musical instruments. These products are entering the middle European and North American markets. Thus persons who have not previously been in contact with this wood in their natural environment are now becoming increasingly exposed to these products. The heartwood of this species contains sensitizing quinones, a class of neoflavanoids, named dalbergiones. 2 Allergic contact dermatitis to D. latifolia Roxb. has rarely been observed. 3,4 To our knowledge, this is the first report of contact dermatitis to jewels made of East Indian rosewood.
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