Dalbergia sissoo

Scientific name: Dalbergia sissoo Roxb.

Family: Fabaceae

Synonym: Amerimnon sissoo (Roxb.) O. Kuntze

Bengali/Vernacular name: Sishu, Sishoo kath (Bengali); Sissoo gas (Noakhali).

Tribal name: Chimim (Lushai); Chargbay-apang, Ngeong-bawn (Rakhaing).

English name: Sisso, Black wood, Indian rosewood.

Description of the plant: A medium-sized to large, deciduous tree, often with curved or crooked bole. Leaves alternate, imparipinnate, leaf rachis zigzag, leaflets 3-5, obovate-orbicular, the terminal one largest. Flowers sessile in axillary panicles, shorter than the leaves, yellowish-white, densely hairy. Fruit a pod, strap-shaped, narrowed at the base with a long stalk, glabrous, slightly reticulate.

Plant parts used: Leaf.

Medicinal uses: Leaf juice (1 tea spoon amount) with milk is taken twice a day for three days to treat dysentery.

A decoction of the leaves is said to be useful in the treatment of gonorrhoea.

10-15 ml juice of the leaves taken thrice a day helps in eliminating pus in urine.

Decoction of leaves is taken thrice a day (50-100 ml amount each time) to treat painful urination.

Leaf juice is taken twice a day (10-15 ml amount each time) to treat jaundice.

10-15 ml juice of the leaves is useful in bloody leucorrhoea.

Distribution:  It occurs in Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, Noakhali, and also widely planted along roadside.

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