 In Korea, the flowers are crushed and mixed with alum to produce an orange dye that can be used to dye fingernails.Unlike common nail varnish, the dye is semi-permanent, requiring dyed nails to grow off over time in order to remove any traces of color.The naphthoquinones lawsone, or hennotannic acid, and lawsone methyl ether and methylene-3,3'-bilawsone are some of the active compounds in "I. balsamina" leaves.