Appearance
"P. cineraria" is a small tree, ranging in height from 3–5 m. The leaves are bipinnate, with seven to fourteen leaflets on each of one to three pinnae. Branches are thorned along the internodes. Flowers are small and creamy-yellow, and followed by seeds in pods. The tree is found in extremely arid conditions, with rainfall as low as 15 cm annually; but is indicative of the presence of a deep water table. As with some other "Prosopis" spp., "P. cineraria" has demonstrated a tolerance of highly alkaline and saline environments.The tree should not to be confused with the similar looking Chinese lantern tree, "Dichrostachys cinerea", they can be told apart by the flowers. While the Chinese lantern tree has bicolored pink-yellow flowers, the true Shami tree has yellow-colored bristled flowers only, like most other mesquites.
Uses
In Thar desert the Singhri or Sangri pods growing on "Prosopis cineraria" is used in various types of Bhaaji and Kadhi. Singhri is one of the traditional cuisines of the Thar DesertExtract from unripe fruit pods of the plant was shown to ameliorate artificially-induced damage to testes in an animal model.References:
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