D. sissoo is a large, crooked tree with long, leathery leaves and whitish or pink flowers.

Dalbergia sissoo is a medium to large deciduous tree with a light crown, which reproduces by seeds and suckers.

Young shoots are downy and drooping; established stems have light brown to dark gray bark, up to 2.5 cm (0.98 in) thick, shed in narrow strips; large upper branches support a spreading crown.

Dalbergia sissoo is native to the foothills of the Himalayas ranging from Afghanistan in the west to Bihar, India, in the east.

It is the best known economic timber species of the rosewood genus sold internationally, but it is also used as fuel wood and for shade and shelter.

Commercially, it is dried in closed chambers with hot-air circulation for about 7 to 15 days, depending on weather conditions.

The heartwood is durable (its specific gravity is 0.7 – 0.8) and is very resistant to fungi, but the sapwood is readily attacked by dry-wood termites and borers.

[1] Traditionally, slender tree twigs (called datun) are first chewed as a toothbrush and then split as a tongue cleaner.

Many of India's 80% rural population still start their day with the teeth cleaning twig either with Salvadora persica or Azadirachta indica.

An ethanolic extract of the fruits of D. sissoo exhibited molluscicidal effects against eggs of the freshwater snail Biomphalaria pfeifferi.

[7] The juice of this plant is a potent ingredient for a mixture of wall plaster, according to the Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra, which is a Sanskrit treatise dealing with Śilpaśāstra (Hindu science of art and construction).

Local name for Indian rosewood in eastern Uttar Pradesh and western Bihar is seeso.