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Shisham
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Shisham
D Native Photo: Tabish
Common name: Shisham, Indian rosewood • Assamese: সিসু Sisu • Hindi: शीशम Shisham • Kannada: ಶಶಿಂಶಪೆ Shimshape, ಶಿಂಶುಪ Shimshupa, ಬಿರಿಡಿ Biridi • Malayalam: ഇരുപുല് Irupul, ഇരുവില് Iruvil, Oivala-sesba • Manipuri: ꯁꯤꯁꯨ Sissu • Marathi: शीशम Shisham • Nepali: सिसौ Sisau • Sanskrit: Aguru, Agurushinshupa, Dhira, धुम्रिका Dhumrika • Tamil: Chichamaram, Chiche • Tangkhul: Chingsoo • Telugu: Errasisso, Errasissu • Urdu: ﺷﻴﺸﻢ Sheesham
Botanical name: Dalbergia sissoo    Family: Fabaceae (Pea family)
Synonyms: Dalbergia pendula, Pterocarpus sissoo

Shisham is a tree with rough bark and mainly longitudinal furrows, young branch velvet-hairy. Leaves are compound, axis about 3.7-7.5 cm long; leaflets 3-5, about 3.5-6.5 cm long, broadly ovate or nearly round, tapering, becoming hairless, leaflet-stalk about 5-8 mm long; stipules about 5 mm long. Inflorescence an in leaf-axils panicle, composed of several short spikes with stalkless to nearly stalkless flowers. Bract small, velvet-hairy, falling off. Sepal-cup is about 5 mm long, teeth fringed with hairs, unequal, shorter than the tube. Flower are yellowish white. Stamens 9, monadelphous, tube slit on the upper side only, anthers uniform. Ovary velvet-hairy, 2-4-ovulate, style hairless, stigma headlike. Fruit about 3.7-10 cm long, about 7.0-13 mm broad, strap-shaped, hairless, 1-4-seeded. Seed flattened. Fl. Per.: March-May.
Medicinal uses: Decoction of leaves is useful in gonorrhoea. Root is astringent. Wood is alterative, useful in leprosy, boils, eruptions and to allay vomiting.

Identification credit: Tabish Photographed in Delhi.

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