What is another definition of gamboge?

Gamboge is a partially transparent deep saffron to mustard yellow pigment. It is used to dye Buddhist monks' robes because the colour is a deep tone of saffron, the traditional colour used for the robes of Theravada Buddhist monks.

It was this pigment that was used to prove Brownian motion by the physicist Jean Perrin in 1908. Gamboge is most often extracted by tapping resin from various species of evergreen trees. The colored resin was a translucent yellow.

The tree most commonly used is the gamboge tree. The orange fruit of 'Garcinia gummi-gutta' is also known as gamboge or gambooge.

By early 20th century it was replaced by a synthetic, more light fast pigment called 'aureolin'; however the Buddhists used the resin form until 2005.

Gamboge has strong laxative properties. Small doses are sufficient to produce watery feces, while large doses can be fatal.