Dalbergia sissoo

D. sissoo is a medium to large, deciduous, long-lived tree with a spreading crown and thick branches. It attains a height of up to 30 m and a girth of 2.4 m;the bole is often crooked. In Rawalpindi district, Pakistan, it also occurs in the form of a straggling bush at an altitude of 1500 m, clinging to crevices in the sides of sandstone cliffs (Troup, 1921). The bark is thick, rough and grey, and has shallow, broad, longitudinal fissures exfoliating in irregular woody strips and scales (Luna, 1996). D. sissoo develops a long taproot from an early age and has numerous lateral ramifying roots (Hocking, 1993). The leaves are compound, imparipinnate and alternate, with rachis 3.5-8 cm long, swollen at the base. There are 3-5 leaflets, each 3.5-9 x 3-7 cm;leaflets alternate, broadly ovate, conspicuously and abruptly cuspidate at the apex, rounded at the base, entire, coriaceous, pubescent when young and glabrous when mature. The terminal leaflet is larger than the others, and there are 8-12 pairs of veins in the leaflets (Parker, 1956;Luna, 1996). The inflorescence of D. sissoo is an axillary panicle 3.5-7.5 cm long, with small flowers, 7-9 mm long, white to yellowish-white with a pervasive fragrance, sessile, papilionaceous and hermaphrodite. The standard petal is narrow at the base and forms a low claw;wing and keel petals are oblong. Pods are 4.5-10 x 0.7-1.5 cm, linear-oblong, indehiscent, stipitate, glabrous, apex acute, reticulate against the seeds, and usually 1-4 seeded. Seeds are kidney-shaped, variable in size (8-10 x 4-5.5 mm), pale brown, brown to brownish-black, reniform, compressed, with papery testa (Parker, 1956;Singh, 1989;Luna, 1996).