Dhau Anogeissus pendula

                       The droughty Draughty and why it is important to Aravalli eco-system

                                                              Leaves of Dhok tree. Resident of Aravalli Jaipur.

                                                                Leaves in winter

                                     Dhok tree in Ranthambore, Dhau, Dhay. Dhao, Dhak, Dhaukra

                                     Spotted Deer eating Dhok tree leaves

The resident tree of Aravallis. A short crooked tree with small, pretty leaves, silvery trunk and gracefully dropping extremities. Capable of reaching 15 m, but it stays shubby and low when lopped or grazed. Superbly drought hardy, this is the emblemic native tree of Aravallis.  Found now only in localized patches on the ridge, sometimes in pure, dense strands.

Uses; valuable for afforesting dry, rocky hills.. The leaves are an excellent fodder and yield a e somber green dye that has almost been forgotten. Tannin from barks and leaves are employed to make sheep skin whiter. The heavy wood  has been rated as the toughest timber so far tested in India- even tougher than American hickory- and specially suitable for striking tools such as mallets.

                          "Dhau is in real danger of dying out completely from Delhi."

Middle sized tree, deciduous. Dhau is the habitat specialist of the Aravalli hills, thriving on hot dry slopes and rocky soil, where most other trees would not survive. Parts of the ridge in Delhi were once forested with Dhau but it has been heavily grazed. Dhau responds to lopping and grazing by growing shrubby and low covering the ground in  horizontally spreading mats. It has a hair trigger response to rain in the dry season.

Seasons :

Leaves : Bare for many months from January, Rain may induce short lived new flushes. Very beautiful when fully in new leaf in mid May. New leaves are pale with a beautiful silvery shin from soft silky hairs lying flat on the leaf surface. just before drooping the leaves acquire delicate manganese tints between purple and brown. Masses together they are beautiful sight.. Leaves small on drooping twigs. 

Flower : June to September. Small, yellowish green, tightly clustered in round heads, only about 1 cm wide. The sticky out stamens give the flower heads a fuzzy, delicate look

Fruits : begins in September, remaining till February or even later. Fruit like flowers are clustered in heads, individual fruit are flattish and more are less circular in outline, with narrow wing like flanks.

Bark ; Silvery when young, becoming darker rougher. Bark more or less smooth, pale brown with silvery sheen particularly on young trees. Can sometimes be conspicuously warty

Anogeissus Pendula is a small tree that is found in abundance in the hills around Jaipur. It is a hardy tree that can survive even in the extreme conditions which explain its presence across Aravalli hills in Rajasthan. This tree is known by many names like Dhok, Dhauk, Kardhai, Dhonk, Dhau, and Dhoy.

Mangarbani- A sacred Forest

South of Delhi, barely a few km across border with Faridabad district a small steep valley containing a  patch of forest known as 'Mangarbani'. It is only about100 hectares or so but is special because it is surprisingly unspoiled by human beings and their livestock. Mangarbani is a sacred forest consecrated in the memory of "Gudariya Baba", a local holy men, and protected by the superstition that anyone who breaks a branch or grazes his goats here will suffer grievous harm.

It seems to work rather well. Gujar herdsmen with their goats or cattle skirt the valley nervously, calling urgently or  throwing stones when an animal grazes too close to the  valley's edge. The result of this conservation strategy is that  Mangarbani has become like a little  outdoor museum of what Delhi's Ridge- or at any rate, the steeper bits of it- might have looked like without biotic pressure. In what way it is different?  Mainly in the sheer luxuriant presence of a small, pretty tree that is locally called 'Dhou'

Dhou is a 'habitat specialist' and the quintessential ( representing the perfect example of a class or quality) tree of the rocky Aravallis. You can still find Dhou growing in  small localized stands on the central ridge but it is clearly in retreat. Where it is not threatened by excessive grazing and competition. specially on steep rocky slopes.- Dhou forms pure forest. Wonderfully pale  green in new leaf at the hottest time of the year., and with beautifully mottled purple leaves just before they are shed. Dhou is the most valuable tree of the Ridge flora.

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