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THERE are many trees that aregrown for multiple products.They are known asmultipurpose trees (MPTs),

a term widely used in agro-forestry.While such trees provide shade, habitatfor organisms, soil improvement, etc,many useful products are also obtained

from them such as fruits, nuts andleaves as food as well as timber,firewood and variety of metabolicchemicals, which may be used inthe form of home remedies andfor traditional medicine.

A kusum tree with

dense green foliageduring rainy season

(left) and with newlyemerged leaves in the

spring (right).

Left: 

A) Kusum leaf with three pairs of leaflets. B) Aninflorescence raceme. C) A male flower with anthers.D) A hermaphrodite flower with fertilized ovule.E) Bunch of immature kusum fruits. F) A mature seed with brown testa (left) and cotyledon kernel (right).

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Thus MPTs fulfill more than one basicneed of human beings and have a highimpact on food and health security of farmers, especially those living in andaround the rural and forest areas.

Schleichera oleosa  (Lour.) Oken,commonly known as lac tree or kusum,

is a forest tree species of tropical andsubtropical region. The tree is utilizedfor multifarious purposes and is a

 boon for a subsistence farmer. Theextended foliage and canopy of thekusum tree provides good shade and issuitable for mixed farming with otherheat susceptible economic plants.

The tree is commonly known tohost lac insects (Kerria lacca  Kerr.) forproduction of natural, biodegradableand commercially important lac resinsthat serve as a livelihood support to

millions of poor farmers in states like Jh ar kh an d, Ch at ti sg ar h, Or is sa ,Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.Various plant parts of kusum are eithera favorite pick of traditional vaids  forindigenous therapies and medicine ora source of food, animal feed, timberand oil. Oil and timber are utilized insmall-scale industries. The kusum  treeis also grown as an avenue tree orwayside tree.

IdentityThe generic name of kusum, Schleicherais derived after the Swiss botanist J.C.Schleicher who first described the tree.The species name oleosa derives fromthe Latin word oleum meaning oil, asthe seed kernels are rich in oil (59-72%). Synonymously the tree is alsoreferred as Schleichera trijuga Willd, theword trijuga  stands for ‘three pairs’,

 based on the presence of three pair of leaflets in a leaf. Kusum  is adicotyledonous, flowering and seed

 bearing vascular plant belonging tofamily Sapindaceae  (soapberry), the

same family to which the popular fruit‘Litchi’ belongs.

approximately 2–4 m diameter. The bark of the tree is usua lly grey incolour with reddish wood inside. Thekusum tree sheds leaf during the monthof December to February; remainsleafless for a short period of time

 before the new purple to red coloured

leaves emerge and gradually turnsgreen with time.

Kusum  flowers are usually devoidof petals. The shape of the fruit isellipsoid to sub-globular berry and the

 base of the fruit is narrowed and apexpointed. The fruits are hard-crustaceous and smooth or slightlyspiny. Inside, the fruit contains one seedor sometimes two. The seeds are richin oil.

Reproduction and

PropagationThe kusum  trees generally flowersduring the onset of dry season(January–February) and fruiting takesplace during the month of March-April.The fruits ripen in the months of July-Aug. The seeds are the major source of propagation and are viable mostly if sown freshly after collection. Properdrying and storage of seeds in airtightcontainers may allow germination of seeds up to 1–2 years. On prolongedstorage the viability of seeds is lostdrastically.

Apart from seedlings, kusum treesare naturally produced in forests fromroot suckers (adventitious shootdeveloped from roots). Artificiallykusum trees can be propagated throughvegetative method of air-layering(artificial induction of roots from thewound on a shoot and detaching theexplant from the mother plant toproduce a plantlet). The stumpsprepared from the 1–2 years oldseedlings, root suckers or air-layersare transplanted in the field in the

D. SAHA, R. RAMANI & B. BABOO

 Despite providing an array of benefits, the Kusum tree

has not yet gained the popularity it deserves.

Scientific synonymsCussambium oleosum  O. Kuntze

Pistacia oleosa Lour.

Schleichera trijuga Willd.

Vernacular namesKusum, Kusam  (Hindi); Sagada

(Kannada); Pava,  puvan  (Tamil);

Pusuku (Telugu); Gyo (Burmese); Lac

tree, Macassar oil-tree, Ceylon-oak,

Malay lactree; Pongro   (French,

Cambodia); Macassaölbaum (German);

kasambi (Indonesian); Takhro  (Thai);

c[aa]y van rao  (Vietnamese); gum-lac

tree (Filipino); Lao (Sino-Tibetan)

Distribution and NaturalHabitatKusum  is a native of tropical Asiancountries and is distributed throughoutthe foothills of Himalaya from theSutlej to Chhotanagpur regionscovering the states of Jharkhand, Bihar,Chattisgarh, Orissa, Madhya Pradeshand Andhra Pradesh. The tree is alsofound in a few isolated patches of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. Other thanIndia the tree is distributed in countrieslike Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar,Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.Generally dry and mixed deciduousforest areas with slightly acidic butwell-drained gravel or loamy soil arethe favorite place to grow the kusumtrees. Though kusum  trees are fire andfrost resistant, they are best suited for35–470 C temperature and 750–2500 mmannual rainfall.

The PlantKusum  is a slow growing largedeciduous tree approximately 20–30 mtall and a crown spread of 

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holes dug approximately 30 cm deepand wide.

Pests and DiseasesAlthough biologically lac insect is thenatural pest of kusum, the economicimportance of the lac resin secreted bythese insects has turned out to be

 beneficial to human beings. Thus, lacinsects are deliberately inoculated onkusum  trees and reared with propermanagement practices. Other insectpests that cause damage to kusum  treeinclude leaf defoliators, stem borersand sap suckers.

The seeds are often attacked by ared bug known as Serinetha augur. Thestem blight, yellow cork rot, whitespongy rot and white fibrous rot arefew important fungal diseases of kusumcausing serious damage to the trunkand root. The pests and diseases of kusum  are managed either throughmechanical means or through

insecticide/fungicide spray.

Benefits Hos t plant for lac cultivation:  Kusumtree is one of the major host plantscommercia l ly exploi ted forcultivation of the Indian lac insect(Kerria lacca). It supports the kusmistrain of lac insect, which producesgood quality light-coloured resin of demand by the lac industry, thusfetching high remunerative pricesto lac growers.  Immature lac insects

prefer semi-tender twigs of kusumtrees for sap sucking and startsecreting resins surrounding their

 body. The resinous coatings of closely sett led sessile insectseventually coalesce together to forman encrustat ion in f ive to s ixmonths.

On kusum  tree, two lac crops—aghani and jethwi— are produced in ayear during the winter and summerseason, respectively. About 34–38%of the total lac production of India

is shared by the kusum  tree as a lachost.

The other conventional tree hostsof lac insects are Butea monosperma ( palas)and Ziziphus mauritiana (ber), but the bestquality lac resin is produced only bythe kusum  tree making it superior tothe others.

The kusum  tree produces on anaverage 60–70 kg of sticklac (the rawlac obtained after scraping the

encrustation from the twigs) per treeand fetching a net profit of about Rs.3,300 per annum to a lac grower. Thedense foliage of the mature kusum treeprovides an additional advantage of supporting brood lac (inoculum sticklac with emerging larvae from thefemale resin cells) viability evenduring the very hot summer season,otherwise summer mortality of lacinsects is a common problem withother host plant species.

Industrial uses of plant parts: The seedsof kusum  are a very rich source of oil(60–70%) for industrial applications.The seed oil called ‘kusum  oil’ is animportant component of the Macassaroil used for hairdressing and cooling

 bath oil . Kusum  oil is used in textileindustry for batik  applications and alsofor making soap. Pressed oil cakes fromkusum are a rich source of crude protein,carbohydrate, fibre and other mineralsand serve as nutritive cattle feed. The

 bark of kusum tree produces tannins anddyes that are occasionally used insmall-scale industries like tanning inleather industry.

 Medicinal uses:  Different plant partsof kusum   are used in tradit ionalmedicine. The seed oil is used by thelocal vaids  for curing skin diseaseslike scabies, itching and acne. The

 bark decoction is also used againstskin inflammations and ulcers. Thedecoction is also infused for curingmalaria. The bark of kusum  is oftenused to control tissue swelling by

vaids. The bark is known to containmedically important compoundslike lupeol used in preparinganalgesics and anti-tumerous agentslike betulin and betulic acids. Thefine powder obtained by grindingthe seeds is applied on the woundsof catt le to prevent fl ies andmaggots.

Other uses: The arillodes of the ripenedfruits are acidic blended with slightsweetness and are eaten raw, whereasthe unripe fruits are used for preparingpickles. The cooked young leavesserve as a culinary dish for poorvillagers. Leaves, twigs and seed cakesare excellent source of fodder forcattle. The kusum  seed oil consists of cyanogenic compounds and is notsuitable for human consumptioncausing giddiness unless the

compounds are removed. However,the seed oil is used for lightingpurpose by the poor tribal people. Thewood is a source of firewood andcharcoal while the hard heartwood isused for making cartwheels, axles,ploughs, rollers of sugar mills, oilpress and other agriculturalimplements.

The major use of kusum tree is forcultivation of lac. However, other usesof kusum  tree are currentlyunderexploited but hold promise to

 benefit human life in many spheres.Planting of kusum  in suitable areasneeds to be promoted in view of itsadvantages as MPT. There is tendencyto prefer quick-growing trees in theafforestation programmes, which maynot always be advantageous or eveneco-friendly in the long run.

The role of kusum  plantations canmainly be envisaged in terms of economic benefits to the resource-constrained farmers dwelling aroundforest areas.

Dr Dipnarayan Saha is scientist with the Lac

Production Division, Indian Institute of Natural Resinsand Gums (IING), ICAR, Namkum, Ranchi-834010,

Jharkhand; Email: dipsaha72@yahoo.com

Dr Ranganathan Ramani is Principal Scientist and

Head, Lac Production Division, Indian Institute of

Natural Resins and Gums (IING); Email:ramani_9@scientist.com

Dr Bangali Baboo is Director, Indian Institute ofNatural Resins and Gums (IING), Ranchi; Email:

bbaboo@ilri.ernet.in

The major use of kusum tree is for cultivation of lac.

However, other uses of kusum tree are currently

underexploited but hold promise to benefit human

life in many spheres.