Dalbergia Latifolia
Family : Leguminosae- Faboideae.
Common Name : Black Rosewood, blackwood tree, East Indian rosewood
English Name : Black Rosewood, blackwood tree, East Indian rosewood
Hindi Name : Kala-Shisham, Vilayati Shisham, Shisham
Telugu Name : Jittegi
Bengali Name : Swetasal, Sitsal.
Tree Characteristics :
Black Rosewood is predominantly a single-stemmed deciduous tree with a dome shaped crown of lush green foliage. The tree can become 20-40 m tall, with a trunk diameter of 1.5-2 m. The bark is gray, thin with irregular short cracks, peeling in fibrous longitudinal flakes. Alternately arranged leaves are odd-pinnate with 5-7 unequal sized leaflets originating from the same rachis. Leaflets are broadly blunt-tipped, dark green above and pale below. White flowers are borne in panicles, 0.5-1 cm long, in leaf axils. The brown pods are oblong-lancelike, and pointed at both ends. They contain 1-4 smooth brown seeds and do not open at maturity.
Nursery Practice :
Ripe dark brown coloured pods are collected from trees by lopping off the branches. The pods are dried in the sun and seeds extracted manually by crushing the pods, or pods are dried in oven at 50oC for 3.5 h and seeds extracted by crushing the pods. Winnowing to clean the seeds. Seed is viable up to six months Soaking in cold water for 24 hrs before sowing will help germination (Chacko et al., 2002). IAA at lower concentrations (1-20 ppm) increase both germination and plant percentages by up to 10% Seeds are sown in primary beds (porous sandy loam soil) in drills. Germination comes within 10 days and then the seedlings are transplanted into polythene bags. Shade is necessary. No. of seeds per Kg is about 21,000; Germination percentage is 65 and the Germination Period is 7 to 21 days.
Economic Use:
Ø The sapwood is perishable but readily treatable. The wood is used for fine furniture; cabinet making; as a decorative wood used, for example, in passenger ships and for instrument cases; musical instruments; turnery, flooring and decorative veneers. It is suitable for high-grade plywood and, owing to its beautiful colour and figure, for decorative veneer.
Ø Because of its strength and durability, it is suitable for all kinds of constructional work, doors, window frames and wagon building.
It is suitable for turnery and is excellent for high-class bentwood furniture, walking sticks, umbrella handles and other bentwood articles.
