Dalbergia sissoo, Amerimnon sissoo, Shisham, Sheesham,
Indian Rosewood, Bombay blackwood,
Hebrew: סיסם הודי, Arabic: الساسم
Scientific name:  Dalbergia sissoo Roxb.
Synonym name:  Amerimnon sissoo (Roxb. ex DC.) Kuntze
Common name:  Shisham, Sheesham, Indian Rosewood, Bombay blackwood
Hebrew name:  סיסם הודי
Arabic name:  الساسم
Plant Family:  Papilionaceae, פרפרניים

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Life form:  Deciduous tree which reproduces by seeds and suckers
Stems:  Up to 9-15 m, spread to 9 m; the bark phellogen of the trunk is smooth and light colored when young but becomes roughened and fissured with age
Leaves:  Alternate, compound, pinnate, leatherly and about 15cm long
Flowers:  Yellow, whitish to pink, fragrant, nearly sessile, upto 1.5cm long and in dense clusters 5-10cm in lenght
Fruit:  Pods are oblong, flat, thin, strap-like 4-8cm long, 1cm wide, and light brown. They contain 1-5 flat-bean shaped seeds 8-10mm long.
Flowering Period:  Spring, Summer
Habitat:  Thermophilous plants
Distribution:   Deserts and extreme deserts
Chorotype:   Tropical
Summer shedding:  Perennating

Dalbergia sissoo, Amerimnon sissoo, Shisham, Sheesham, Indian Rosewood, Bombay blackwood,סיסם הודי


Derivation of the botanical name:
Dalbergia, named in honour of the Swedish brothers Nils (1736 - 1820) and Carl Dalberg, who lived in the 18th century. The former a botanist and royal physician, and the latter owned an estate in Surinam from where he sent specimens to Linnaeus.
sissoo, Hindi word śiśam, in English sissoo.
Amerimnon, transliterated as a name for the aizoum plant meant "carefree."
Shisham, common Hindi name.
  • The standard author abbreviation Roxb. is used to indicate William Roxburgh (1751 – 1815), a Scottish surgeon and botanist. He has been called the Father of Indian Botany.
  • The standard author abbreviation DC. is used to indicate Augustin Pyramus de Candolle (1778 – 1841), a Swiss botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Kuntze is used to indicate Carl Ernst Otto Kuntze (1843 – 1907), a German botanist.
This plant is planted as an ornamental tree all over the country; it is native to India, Pakistan and Nepal.
Shisham is among the finest cabinet, furniture and veneer timbers. The heartwood is golden to dark brown, and sapwood white to pale brownish white. The heartwood is extremely durable (Specific Gravity = 0.7- 0.8), and is very resistant to dry-wood termites; but the sapwood is readily attacked by fungi and borers. It is used for plywood, agricultural, and musical instruments, skis, carvings, boats, floorings, etc.