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Diospyros discolor
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Family:
EBENACEAE
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Citation: Diospyros discolor Willd., Sp. Pl. 4: 1108. 1806; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 778(547). 1923; Vajr., Fl. Palghat Dist. 270. 1990; V. Singh, Monogr. Indian Diospyros 85. 2005.
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Malayalam Name(s):
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
Mabola Ebony, Comogen Ebony, Philippine Persimmon, Mabola Tree, Mabola-date-plum, Velvet apple, Velvet Persimmon
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Description:
Tree to 15 m tall; bark blackish or dark brown, rough, peeling off; inner bark pinkish; branchlets and end bud silvery sericeous. Leaves alternate, rigidly coriaceous, oblong or elliptic-oblong, rarely oblanceolate, 2.5 x 8 -12 x 30 cm, acuminate or acute, base obtuse or subcordate, above glabrous, glossy, midrib impressed, beneath initially silver or golden sericeous, glabrescent, glaucous, lateral nerves obscure; petiole thick, 0.5-1.5 cm long. estipulate; petiole 7-13 mm, stout, grooved above, glabrous; lamina estipulate; petiole 7-13 mm, stout, grooved above, glabrous. Flowers white, fragrant: Male inflorescences shortly pedunculate, 3-7-flowered, female usually 1-flowered., densely sericeous. Male ones smaller than female ones, shortly pedicelled, calyx fleshy, turbinate-campanulate, deeply 4-lobed, inside glabrous; lobes coriaceous, erect, ovate, obtuse, ciliate, 5-10 mm. Corolla twice as long as calyx, up to 1.5 cm diam. at apex; tube subcylindrical; lobes pale yellow, fleshy, subequal to the tube, ovate or oblong, revolute to patent upto 1 cm long. Stamens 24-30, hypogynous, pairwise connate, glabrous; filaments up to 2 mm long. Pistil rudiment pilose. Female flowers subsessile. Calyx lobes 4, ovate-rotundate or oblong, green, glabrous inside, 1-1.5 cm long. Corolla white, trumpet-shaped, 1.5-2 cm long; tube cylindrical, 1 cm long; lobes as long as tube, ovate, obtuse. Staminodes 4-5 or 8-10, glabrous. Ovary densely sericeous, 8-10-celled; styles 4-5, simple, erect or rather patent. Fruit globose or depressed globose, fleshy, densely rusty or yellowish velutinous, edible, 5-12 cm long, 4-10-seeded; mesocarp fleshy, pinkish, pulp white or cream. Fruiting calyx flattened, adpressed to the fruit base, 2.5-3.5 cm diam.; lobes 1-1.5 cm long, 1-2 cm wide. Seeds ellipsoid, flat-convex, upto 4 cm long; testa rough; endosprem equable.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
February-April
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District(s):
Palakkad, Thiruvananthapuram, Malappuram, Thrissur
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Medicinal:
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Habitat:
Grown as ornamental tree
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Distribution:
Native of Philippines
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Aquatic:
No
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Epiphyte(s):
No
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Saprophyte:
No
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Stem parasite:
No
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Root parasite:
No
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Flower colour(s):
White
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Weed:
No
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Monocot/Dicot:
Dicotyledonous Plants
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Exotic:
Yes
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Garden:
Yes
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Edible:
No
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Vegetable:
No
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Endemic to:
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IUCN status:
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Altitude:
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Localities:
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