Dalbergia sissoo

Sheesham wood

Shisham is the best known economic timber species of the rosewood genus sold internationally, but it is also used as fuel wood and for shade and shelter. After teak, it is the most important cultivated timber tree of Bihar, which is the largest producer of shisham timber in India. In Bihar, the tree is planted on roadsides, along canals and as a shade tree for tea plantations. It is also commonly planted in southern Indian cities like Bangalore as a street tree.

Sheesham is usually dried before being used in furniture manufacturing, a process commonly known as seasoning. Locally sheesham is left in wide open areas to dry under the sun for about six months. Commercially, sheesham is dried in closed chambers with hot air circulation for about seven to fifteen days, depending on weather conditions. The ideal moisture level is supposed to be 5-6% for thinner pieces and up to 11% for thicker ones, depending on use. Anything lower than this can cause sudden cracking of the final products.

Sheesham is among the finest cabinet and veneer timbers. It is the wood from which 'mridanga', the Rajasthani percussion instrument, is often made. In addition to musical instruments, it is used for plywood, agricultural tools, flooring, and as a bentwood, and for turning.

The heartwood is golden to dark brown; the sapwood is white to pale brownish white. The heartwood is durable (the specific gravity is 0.7 – 0.8) and is very resistant to fungi; but the sapwood is readily attacked by dry-wood termites and borers. Dalbergia sissoo is known to contain the neoflavonoid dalbergichromene in its stem-bark and heartwood.[3]

A sheesham tree growing in Pakistan.

The calorific value of both the sapwood and heartwood is 'excellent', being reported to be 4,908 kcal/kg and 5,181 kcal/kg respectively. As a fuel wood it is grown on a 10 to 15-year rotation. The tree has excellent coppicing ability, although a loss of vigor after two or three rotations has been reported. Shisham wood makes excellent charcoal for heating and cooking.

Traditionally, slender tree twigs (called datun) are first chewed as a toothbrush and then split as a tongue cleaner.[4] This practise has been in use in Pakistan, Africa, and the Middle East for centuries. In India, sheesham have been used in Siddha medicine system for skin disorders and stomach related issues. Many of India's 80% rural population still start their day with the teeth cleaning twig either with Salvadora persica or Azadirachta indica. In other parts of the world sheesham twigs are still collected and sold in markets for this use in rural areas.

Ethanolic extract of the fruits of Dalbergia sissoo exhibited molluscicide effect against eggs of the freshwater snail Biomphalaria pfeifferi.[5]

The juice of this plant is a potent ingredient for a mixture of wall plaster, according to the Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra, which is a Sanskrit treatise dealing with Śilpaśāstra (Hindu science of art and construction).[6]