The compound was first isolated from wounded bean plants by American chemists James English Jr. and James Frederick Bonner and Dutch scientist Arie Jan Haagen-Smit in 1939.

[2] Traumatic acid is a potent wound healing agent in plants ("wound hormone") that stimulates cell division near a trauma site to form a protective callus and to heal the damaged tissue.

It may also act as a growth hormone, especially in inferior plants (e.g. algae).

At normal conditions, traumatic acid is a solid, crystalline, water-insoluble substance.

It is also a constituent of some pharmaceutical products, such as the odontostomatologic gel Restomyl, due to its mucosal re-epithelialization activity.