It is used to manufacture furniture, paneling, and other ornamental products. Medicines and an appetizer are made from tannins in the bark. The tree is commonly called sitsal, beete, shisham or Bombay blackwood in India, and sonokeling or sonobrits in Indonesia. Botany Dalbergia latifolia Roxb. On wet sites it may remain evergreen.
Leaflets are broadly obtuse, dark green above and pale below.
Flowers are white in axillary panicles, 0.5-1.0 cm long. The brown pods are oblong-lanceolate and pointed at both ends. They contain 1-4 smooth brown seeds and do not open at maturity. The root system is well developed, consisting of deep tap roots and long lateral roots. When near the soil surface, roots produce suckers.