[Assam] Naahor, Nahowr, Mesua ferrea Etc.

[Chan Mahanta]

It is a tree, of conical habit, that grows quite widely from regions 
of south to south-east Asia. The timber is extremely dense and hard, 
because of which it is also called Indian ironwood. The British 
harvested
most of the large ancient stock from NE region for railroad sleepers 
( ties). It is a slow growing tree.

In Singapore it is very effectively used for highway landscaping. I 
was amazed how lovely they look along the main thoroughfare from 
Changi airport to the main city, along with screw-pine ( keteki), 
royal poinciana ( krisno sura), radha sura, tokou ( finger palm), 
mamoi-tamwl ( areca-nut)   and other such plants/trees that  grow 
widely in Assam and the contiguous areas.

Most tropical trees grown from seeds will not mature to 
blooming/fruiting size in anything less than five years. They could, 
however, if produced by air-layering ( daal-dhoraa).

While the naahor seeds seem to contain high oil content ( you can 
tell from the intense, dark, oily  smoke that emanates when burnt), 
the total number of fruits from a mature tree, could not be all that 
much. But it still could be useful. What it can be turned into is the 
big question. The  seed shells are fibrous and hard. They too burn 
with some smoke, indicating oil content. They could also possibly be 
chopped up and used as mulch for weed control -- unless the oil 
content is deleterious for plants -- just a thought.

The flowers produce an  exquisite tropical fragrance--thus could be 
valuable for  aromatic oil distillation as well.

Its thirty to forty feet height ( and even more for ancient stands) 
in dense plantation could cause enough shading to render the 
understory unsuitable for other crops , depending on site orientation.