KHEJRI TREE
Description:
Trees, 5 – 10 m high; bark rough with deep fissures or cracks, greyish brown; branchlets slender, glabrous and with curved, compressed prickles. Leaves 2- pinnate, 3 – 3.5 cm long; pinnae usually 2 pairs; leaflets subsessile, oblong, oblique at base, mucronate at apex, 0.5 – 1.2 * 0.3 – 0.5 cm; stipules foliaceous, deciduous. Flowers in axillary, simple or branched spikes of 6 – 10 cm long, yellow. Pods strap-shaped, pointed, 8 – 20 * 0.5 – 0.8 cm, turgid, pulpy, pendulous, yellow; seeds 10 – 15, oblong-suborbicular, subcompressed, wrinkled, dull brown. Flowering & Fruiting: March – June.
Botanical Names: Prosopis cineraria (L.) Druce
Vernacular Names: Chhonkar, Khejada, Khejadi, Khijado (Hindi); Sami, Shami (Gujarati).
Family: Leguminosae – Mimosoideae
The range of Distribution: In dry and arid regions of North-western India (Gujarat, Punjab,
Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh), and also in drier parts of Central and Southern India,
extending to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Arabia.
Economic Importance: Generally, native people do not allow cutting of this tree. They use it only after its natural death. Timber is used for agricultural implements. Shoots and leaves are very good fodder. Tender green pods are cooked and eaten as a vegetable. Dried pods are sold in the market as ‘Sangri’.
Traditional Uses: It has been used for centuries for human diet in the desert of Rajasthan, besides its use as fuel and fodder. Dry pods, also known as ‘Marwari Mewa’, reduce the craving for water in summer and are eaten by farmers in lean periods. Leaves are a nutrition and highly palatable source of fodder for major desert livestock, such as camel and cattle. Pods increase milk production in milch animals. Twigs and branches used as fuel for cooking food and are also used as fencing material to protect farmlands.
Medicinal Uses: The flowers mixed with sugar are eaten by pregnant ‘Bhil’ and
‘Garasia’ ladies in the desert as a safeguard against abortion. Local Vaidyas (medicine
men) prescribe the bark in rheumatism. The Bhilrub the ash of the bark over the body for removing unwanted hair. Stem-bark has anti-inflammatory and anthelmintic properties and is also used against leprosy, dysentery, bronchitis, asthma, leucoderma, piles and rheumatism.
Ceremonial Uses: Native people worship the tree during a marriage and use the wood for
making stump (Thamla) of Mandapam.
Description:
Trees, 5 – 10 m high; bark rough with deep fissures or cracks, greyish brown; branchlets slender, glabrous and with curved, compressed prickles. Leaves 2- pinnate, 3 – 3.5 cm long; pinnae usually 2 pairs; leaflets subsessile, oblong, oblique at base, mucronate at apex, 0.5 – 1.2 * 0.3 – 0.5 cm; stipules foliaceous, deciduous. Flowers in axillary, simple or branched spikes of 6 – 10 cm long, yellow. Pods strap-shaped, pointed, 8 – 20 * 0.5 – 0.8 cm, turgid, pulpy, pendulous, yellow; seeds 10 – 15, oblong-suborbicular, subcompressed, wrinkled, dull brown. Flowering & Fruiting: March – June.
Botanical Names: Prosopis cineraria (L.) Druce
Vernacular Names: Chhonkar, Khejada, Khejadi, Khijado (Hindi); Sami, Shami (Gujarati).
Family: Leguminosae – Mimosoideae
The range of Distribution: In dry and arid regions of North-western India (Gujarat, Punjab,
Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh), and also in drier parts of Central and Southern India,
extending to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Arabia.
Economic Importance: Generally, native people do not allow cutting of this tree. They use it only after its natural death. Timber is used for agricultural implements. Shoots and leaves are very good fodder. Tender green pods are cooked and eaten as a vegetable. Dried pods are sold in the market as ‘Sangri’.
Traditional Uses: It has been used for centuries for human diet in the desert of Rajasthan, besides its use as fuel and fodder. Dry pods, also known as ‘Marwari Mewa’, reduce the craving for water in summer and are eaten by farmers in lean periods. Leaves are a nutrition and highly palatable source of fodder for major desert livestock, such as camel and cattle. Pods increase milk production in milch animals. Twigs and branches used as fuel for cooking food and are also used as fencing material to protect farmlands.
Medicinal Uses: The flowers mixed with sugar are eaten by pregnant ‘Bhil’ and
‘Garasia’ ladies in the desert as a safeguard against abortion. Local Vaidyas (medicine
men) prescribe the bark in rheumatism. The Bhilrub the ash of the bark over the body for removing unwanted hair. Stem-bark has anti-inflammatory and anthelmintic properties and is also used against leprosy, dysentery, bronchitis, asthma, leucoderma, piles and rheumatism.
Ceremonial Uses: Native people worship the tree during a marriage and use the wood for
making stump (Thamla) of Mandapam.
0 comments:
Post a Comment