Prosopis cineraria - Indian mesquite

Shami, Prosopis cineraria

Shami is a moderate sized throny tree with bipinnate leaves distributed from Iran to India. Within India, it is found in the dry and arid regions on the alluvial plains.

Uses

Skin diseases, Cysts, Tumours, Cough, Bronchitis, Asthma, Piles, Dysentery, Diarrhea

Parts Used

Bark, Fruits

Common names

Language	Common name
Kannada	Banni mara, Perumbe
Hindi	Khejri, Sami, Chonkar, Jhand
Malayalam	Paramba
Tamil	Parambai, Vanni, Kulivam, Tamali
Telugu	Jammi, Priyadarshini, Chamee
Marathi	NA
Gujarathi	NA
Punjabi	NA
Kashmiri	NA
Sanskrit	Shami
English	Shami tree

Properties

Reference: Dravya - Substance, Rasa - Taste, Guna - Qualities, Veerya - Potency, Vipaka - Post-digesion effect, Karma - Pharmacological activity, Prabhava - Therepeutics.

Dravya

Rasa

Kashaya (AStringent), Madhura (Sweet)

Guna

Laghu (Light), Rooksha (Dry)

Veerya

Sheeta (cold)

Vipaka

Katu (Pungent)

Karma

Pitta, Kapha

Prabhava

Habit

Tree

Identification

Leaf

Kind	Shape	Feature
Bipinnate	Alternate	Leaves 1-3-jugate, glabrous or puberulous; petiole and rachis 0.5-4 cm long, the pinnae 2-7 cm long; leaflets 7-14-jugate, ovate, straight to subfalcate, without nerves (or 2-4-nerved at base, the midrib excentric), mucronate, 4-15 mm long x 2-4.5 mm broad, greyish when dry; stipules foliaceous, deciduous.

Flower

Type	Size	Color and composition	Stamen	More information
Bisexual	Spiciform racemes	Pale yellow		5-13 cm long, several together, subpaniculate; peduncle with amplexicaul bract (or 2 bracts united), this caducous and leaving an oblique scar, 1.5-2 mm long; bractlets ovate, sessile, 0.5-0.8 mm long, caducous; pedicels 0.5 mm, to 1.5 mm long when mature; flowers yellow, glabrous; calyx truncate, 0.8-1.2 mm long; corolla 3.5 mm long, glabrous, the petals rolled back in age; anthers 0.8-1 mm long; pistil glabrous.

Fruit

Type	Size	Mass	Appearance	Seeds	More information
A Pod	8 - 9 cm long	Fruit slender, elongate, 8-19 cm long (including the stipe 0.8-2 cm), subcylindric-torulose, 4-7 mm in diameter, glabrous; pericarp thin, brittle; endocarp segments thin, longitudinal, little developed; seeds distant, longitudinal, ovate, 6 mm long, the tegument with open horse-shoe fissural line on faces, 10-15 in a pod, brown.	Seeds 6-15, 8-10 x 7-9 mm, glossy, red		{{{6}}}

Other features

Mode of Propagation

Seeds, Cuttings.

How to plant/cultivate

Propagation material is seeds collected during May-June from plus trees.

Commonly seen growing in areas

Tropical area.

Photo Gallery

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  Leaves

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  Flowers

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  Pods

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  Pods

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  Flowers

External Links

• Prosopis cineraria on vikaspedia.in
• Prosopis cineraria on world agroforestry.org
• Prosopis cineraria on the ferns info