Dalbergia Sissoo Roxburgh

Abstract

The identification of Old Persian yakā- with Dalbergia sissoo Roxburgh was suggested by Ilya Gershevitch in a memorable article in 1957 after extensive investigations in the Bashākard mountains of northern Iranian Makran (east of L. 58, c. 100 miles north-east of Jask). The sissoo has been defined as a “large deciduous tree, bark grey, heartwood brown with darker veins, leaflets 3–5, broadly elliptical or ovate”, and K. A. Chowdhury has studied its distribution in northern India, starting from the Indus, spreading east to Assam, sticking to the sub-Himalayan tracts and usually going up to 1,000 m. above sea level. It also extends far into the plains along river banks. In Baluchistan it grows in the Suleiman range between the Indus and the Zhob rivers, having been noted as early as 1890 by J. H. Lace in his study of the vegetation of Baluchistan in the Wam Tangi forest situated in the limestone ranges in the Hurnai district, where it reached a height of 35 feet. Its distribution within Pakistan includes the districts of Dera Ghazi Khan, Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Hazara, and it can be seen in Peshawar growing on the University campus and in front of Dean's Hotel (Pl. XXIIIa). A specimen from Nepal was given to Sir Max Mallowan in 1973 and is illustrated here (Fig. 1).