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Diospyros ebenum
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Family:
EBENACEAE
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Citation: Diospyros ebenum Koenig, Physiogr. Salsk. Mag. 1: 176. 1781; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 3: 558. 1882; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 775(545). 1923; Mohanan, Fl. Quilon Dist. 243. 1984; Sasidh., Fl. Chinnar WLS 181. 1999; V. Singh, Monogr. Indian Diospyros 89. 2005.
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Malayalam Name(s):
Ebony, Karingali, Karu, Mushtambi, Vayari
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
Ceylon ebeny tree, East Indian Ebony, Ceylon Ebony, Black Sapote, Persimmon Ebony
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Description:
Evergreen dioecious trees, to 15 m high, bark black or grey-black, rough, peeling off in small rectangular pieces, fissured, brittle; blaze yellow; branchlets slender, apical part sparsely minutely adpressed pilose or glabrous. Leaves simple, alternate, estipulate; petiole 4-10 mm long, slender, glabrous; lamina 4.5-15 x 4-7 cm, elliptic-oblong, oblong, oblong-lanceolate, obovate or obovate-oblong, base cuneate or acute, apex obtuse, emarginate or subacute, margin entire, glabrous, coriaceous; lateral nerves 5-11 pairs, pinnate, prominent, basal pairs opposite, intercostae reticulate, prominent, pellucid. Flowers unisexual, subsessile, greenish-yellow; male flowers: 3-15 in short, axillary, umbellate clusters; peduncle densely tomentose; pedicel 3 mm; calyx cupular, glabrous; lobes 4, ovate, spreading, margin ciliate; corolla 7 mm long, 1 cm across, tubular to salver-shaped; lobes 4, ovate-oblong, 6 mm long; stamens 6-12, unequal, in uneven groups; filaments 1.5-3.5 mm long; anthers linear, connectives crested, apiculate; pistillode linear to 2 mm; female flowers: solitary, axillary, pedicel to 3 mm; calyx cupular, mouth densely tomentose; lobes 4, ovate, spreading, subacute; corolla 3 mm across, tubular; tube 6 mm; lobes 4, each 6 mm, acute, reflexed; staminodes 8 with double anthers; ovary superior, 4.5 x 4 mm, globose, 8-celled, ovules 1-in each cell; styles 4; stigma capitellate. Fruit a berry, 2 x 1.8 cm, subglobose, with short apical beak; calyx enlarged and forming a shallow wooden cup; reflexed; seeds 3-8, black; endosperm equable.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
February-April
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District(s):
Kollam, Idukki
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Medicinal:
Yes
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Habitat:
Dry deciduous forests
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Distribution:
Peninsular India and Sri Lanka
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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):
Green, Yellow
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Weed:
No
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Monocot/Dicot:
Dicotyledonous Plants
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Exotic:
No
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Garden:
No
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Edible:
No
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Vegetable:
No
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Endemic to:
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IUCN status:
Data Deficient (DD)
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Altitude:
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Localities:
Peechi, Vellanimala, Karimutty, Thekkady
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