Habitat : — Punjab, Sind, Rajputana, Guzerat, Bundelkhand and the Deccan.
A moderate-sized, thorny tree, with slender grey branches. Bark ¾-lin. thick, grey, rough, with deep longitudinal fissures and horizontal cracks. Wood very hard. Sapwood large, whitish, perishable ; heart- wood purplish-brown. Branches and branchlets armed with scattered, broad-based, ⅛-¼in. long, conical prickles. Leaves bipinnate, pinnæ and leaflets opposite, pinnæ 2, l-2in. long ; leaflets 7-12 pair, sessile, ¼-½in., ligulate, grey, glabrous, rigidly coriaceous, caducous. Flowers in short, pedicelled, axillary spikes, 2-3in. long and terminal panicles. Corolla 1/12in. long. Stamens 10, free, exserted, anthers gland-tipped. Pod coriaceous, indehiscent, pendulous, linear, 5-10in. long, filled with a dry sweetish pulp, contracted between seeds. Seeds 10-15, dull, brown, oblong.
Use : — The pod is considered astringent in the Punjab (STEWART).
The bark is used in the Central Provinces as a remedy for rheumatism (Watt).
441. Dichrostachys cinerea, W. and A. h.f.b.i., ii. 288.
Syn. : — Mimosa cinerea ; Linn. Roxb. 422.
Sans. : — Viravriksha.
Vern. : — Vurtuli (H.); Kanlai, kunrat, kheri (Mhairwara); Khen (Raj.) ; Segum kâti (Mar. and Gond.) ; Vadatalla, vadatara Tam.) ; Veturu, yeltu (Tel.).
Habitat : — N. W. Provinces ; Western Peninsula.
A thorny, much-branched shrub or small tree. Bark grey or light brown, very thin, deeply fissured vertically, peeling off in thin flakes. Hear-twood red, streaked with black, extremely hard (Gamble). Spines axillary, strong, straight, sharp, often bearing leaves. Leaves bipinnate, 1¼-2½in. long. Stipules subulate from a narrow base, pinnae 4-10 pair, with stipitate
