Dalbergia sissoo ROXB.

Family : Fabaceae

Synonym(s) : Amerimnon sissoo, Petrocarpus sissoo

English Name : Sissoo

Origin : Haryana and rest of India, Pakistan and Nepal.

Description

It is a large deciduous tree with grey bark up to 15 to 18 m in height. The branches are downy, gray and spreading. Leaves are 3 to 5, alternate, imparipinnate, bifarious, roundish, acuminate and 3.5 to 6.0 x 3.0 to 5.4 cm. The flowers are sessile in axillary panicles shorter than leaves and yellowish white. The pods are 3.5 x 4.5 cm long, thin, strap shaped and pale grey. Seeds are 1 to 4, kidney shaped and flat.

Habitat

Common along roads and on gravelly, river bottoms; Indus to Assam (in the subHimalayas) and also on the Indian plains.

Parts Used : Bark, aerial part and leaf

Herb Effects

The roots are used as astringent. Bark or rasping of the wood are alterative; roots are astringent; leaves are bitter and stimulant; alleviates spasms (aerial part); alterative (wood).

Active Ingredients

Dalbergin, dalbergenone, methyldalbergichrome and methyldalbergin (stem bark).

Medicinal Use

Eye diseases and gonorrhea (leaf); cholera, effective in bleeding piles, menorrhagia and in varicose veins (bark); in gonorrhoea (leaves decoction); in leprosy, boils and eruptions and to allay vomiting (wood).

Reference