Assyrian Plum

Lasura (Cordia myxa), lasura in Pakistan and known in English as the Assyrian plum, is a small deciduous tree grown for its sticky-sweet fruit, its fodder leaves and its useful wood. The honest reason to plant it is that it is a genuinely multipurpose tree for hard, dry ground, giving food, livestock feed and fuel where more demanding species fail.¹

Where it thrives

The native range of the species runs from southern Iran to Indo-China and takes in Pakistan, and it grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome, which makes the Punjab plains, the Sindh coast and the Pothohar all suitable.² It is a deciduous shrub or small tree to around 12 m, with a dense crown and crooked branches, and it is both drought- and frost-hardy, marking it as a multipurpose tree for arid and semi-arid country.¹ It copes with adverse soils that defeat many fruit trees.

Role in the system

In a layered design lasura sits as a secondary, understory tree: smaller than the climax canopy species but tall enough to form a second layer of shade and structure beneath or beside them. As a secondary-succession tree it establishes once pioneers have begun to build the soil, then holds the mid-canopy with its dense crown, casting the partial shade that lets shade-tolerant herbs and groundcovers work the layers below. It is a true multipurpose component of the guild rather than a single-output tree. The fruit is an edible drupe with sweet, mucilaginous pulp, eaten ripe or used unripe as a vegetable and pickle, important as a scarcity food.¹ The foliage is recognised fodder for ruminants across India, Pakistan and Africa, running roughly 10 to 16 percent crude protein, so the tree feeds livestock as well as people and drops leaf litter that returns to the soil.¹ The wood serves for fuel and small timber, and the leaves and fruit carry documented bioactive compounds with antioxidant and enzyme-inhibitory activity behind their long medicinal use.³ Food, fodder, fuel, medicine and mid-canopy shade from one hardy tree is exactly the stacking a guild is built on.

Growing it

Raise it from seed, which is the usual route, and plant out the young tree where it will form a second-canopy layer with room for its spreading crown. Once established it needs little water, tolerating drought and poor soil, though irrigation while young speeds it on. Prune to shape the crown and to harvest fodder, and cut-and-carry or browse the leaf as feed. It withstands frost, so it suits the cooler inland zones as well as the warm plains.¹

What you get

You get sweet edible fruit, protein-rich browse for cattle and goats, fuelwood and small timber, and a medicinal leaf and fruit, all from a tough tree that also adds mid-canopy shade and leaf litter to the system.¹³

Sourcing notes

Start from seed collected from a heavy-fruiting, healthy parent, or from nursery seedlings where available; choose stock from a tree with good fruit if eating quality matters to you. Source locally adapted material suited to your zone, and protect young seedlings from browsing until they are tall enough to take it.

Sources

1. Heuzé, V., Tran, G., Bastianelli, D. et al. (2016). “Assyrian plum (Cordia myxa).” Feedipedia, INRAE/CIRAD/AFZ/FAO.
2. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (2024). “Cordia myxa L.” Plants of the World Online.
3. Elhawary, S. S., Younis, I. Y., El Raey, M. A. et al. (2025). “Comparative metabolic profiling of Cordia myxa leaves and fruits and investigation of antioxidant activities and enzyme inhibitory properties.” Scientific Reports.