BLACKWOOD OR ROSEWOOD 



DALBERGIA 



LATIFOLIA 



Blackwood 



of Indian cheese are at the present unimportant. In 1903-4 they were 

 4,980 lb., valued at Rs. 2,625, and in 1906-7, 4,543 lb., valued at 

 Rs. 2,784. 



[<7/. Montgomery Martin, Hist. E. 2nd., ii., 942-3 ; Mad. Exp. Farm. Rept., 

 1883, 76 ; Sen, I.e. 57 ; Mollison, I.e. 63-8 ; Lawrence, Valley of Kashmir, 

 1895, 360 ; Collis Barry, Legal Med. Ind., 1903, 562.] 



D.E.P., 

 iii., 5-16. 



Black- 

 wood. 



Blackwood 

 Furniture. 



DALBERGIA, IAnn., f. ; Fl. Br. Ind., ii., 230-8 ; Prain, Species 

 Dalbergia S.E. Asia, in Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. Cole., 1904, x., pt. i. ; also 

 in Journ. As. Soc. Beng., Ixvi., ii., 442 ; Talbot, List Trees, etc., 1902, 

 135-8 ; Gamble, Man. Ind. Timbs., 246-56 ; Brandis, Ind. Trees, 232-9 ; 

 Cooke, Fl. Pres. Bomb., i., 394-401 ; Duthie, FL Upper Gang. Plain, i., 

 263-5 ; LEGUMINOS^E. A genus of tropical plants, mostly trees, that con- 

 tains some 120 species, of which Prain figures and describes 86 as met with 

 in South-Eastern Asia. Two of these (Z>. Sisftoo and D. latifolia) 

 are in India exceedingly valuable timber-trees, whilst the others are less 

 important. 



1. D. assamica, Benth., is the medoloa of the tea planters (Watt and Mann, 

 Pests and Blights of the Tea Plant, 1903, 141-4). 2. D. cultrata, Grah., yendike or 

 yindaik, is a fair-sized tree common in deciduous forests throughout Burma. 

 It is said to exude a red resin, to furnish a useful oil, and to be utilised by the 

 Karenis for propagating the lac-insect. The heart-wood is blackish and ebony- 

 like, often streaked with red. It is exceedingly durable, and is used for making 

 wheels, agricultural implements, spear-handles, etc., and sometimes for carving. 

 3. D. lanceolaria, Linn., f., is the takoli, bithua, chakemdia, angaria, piri, chapot siris, 

 gengri, dandous, tantosi, nal valanga, pedda sdpara, etc. A deciduous tree of 

 the Sub-Himalayan forests from the Jumna eastward, ascending the hills to 

 2,500 feet ; also in Central and South India and Bombay. An oil is expressed 

 from the seeds, and the leaves and bark are reported to have medicinal properties. 

 The timber is said to be useful in building. 4. D. Oliver!, Gamble, is the tamalan 

 or tabauk tree of the eng-daing forests of Upper Burma (Wuntho and Bhamo). 

 It attains a height of about 60 feet and girth of 4 to 6 feet. The wood 

 is handsome, reddish, hard, close-grained, and takes a fine polish ; is very like 

 some of the South American rosewoods. It is largely used for axe-handles, 

 dogcart shafts and other purposes for which great strength is required and 

 is employed in the Royal Indian Marine dockyard at Mandalay for bushings 

 to propellor-shafts, in place of Lignum-vitse (<*naicmn ojficinaie). 



D. latifolia, Roxb. ; Prain, I.e. 80-1, pi. 62; Thurston, Ind. For., 

 1894, xx., app. ; Koorders, in Ind. For., 1894, xx., 282 ; Watt, Ind. Art 

 at Delhi, 1903, 100, 126-34. The Blackwood or Rosewood of Southern 

 India, sitsal (or swet-sal, white sal), shisham, sissu, sissua, satsiyar, 

 rute, ruzerap, tali, Jcalarukh, iti jitengi, eruvadi, yerugudu, jitangi, biti, 

 thoddgatti, etc. A deciduous tree fairly plentiful from the submontane 

 forests of Nepal, Sikkim to Chota Nagpur, Oudh, the Central Provinces, 

 Central and Western India to Southern India. It attains its greatest 

 size in the Western Ghats, south to Wynaad and Travancore, and 

 ascends the hills to altitudes of 3,500 feet. Gamble (Lc. 250) says it 

 is found in dry forests with teak and bamboo, as well as in moist ever- 

 green jungles. It may reach a height of 80 feet and a girth of 12 to 15 

 feet, but it is of slow growth, especially at first. It is easily propagated 

 by seed and is readily self-sown. 



The wood weighs from 50 to 66 lb. per cubic foot, and sinks in water before 

 being seasoned ; it has a fine handsome grain, and is exported from the forests 

 of Kanara, Malabar and Travancore to Bombay, Kathiawar, Kach, Karachi, 

 London, Havre, Hamburg and Chinese ports. The planks when not well seasoned 

 have a tendency to split longitudinally. 



In India it is extensively used for furniture, cabinet-work, knees of vessels, 



484 



