Botanical Name Plant's Common Name Plant Family   

   MT063 : Diospyros melanoxylon Roxb.

Plant Category : Tree

Melghat's Flora's Serial No. : 289

Synonym : Diospyros dubia Wall. ex A.DC.; Diospyros exsculpta Bedd.; Diospyros exsculpta Dalzell & Gibson.; Diospyros montana B.Heyne ex A.DC.; Diospyros roylei Wall. ex A.DC.; Diospyros rubiginosa Roth.; Diospyros tupru Buch.-Ham.; Diospyros wightiana Wall. nom. inval.;

Plant Common Name : Temburni, K- Tumri, Coromandel Ebony, Black Ebony, Ebony Persimmon, Kendu leaves, Tendu leaves, Ebony, East Indian Ebony • Bengali: Kend, Kendu • Hindi: Abnus, Kendu, Tendu, Timburni • Kannada: Abanasi, Balai • Malayalam: Kari • Marathi: Tendu, Temru, Timburni • Nepali: Abnush, Tendu • Sanskrit: Dirghapatraka • Tamil: Karai, Karundumbi, Tumbi • Telugu: Tuniki, Beedi Aaku

Plant Family : Ebenaceae

Description : a medium-sized tree or shrub up to 25 m, and 1.9 m girth. The bark is pelican in colour, peeling in rectangular scales, which is an identifying feature. The species name melanoxylon comes from the Greek melas (black) and xylon (wood). The primary root is long, thick and fleshy at first, afterwards woody, greyish, often swollen in upper part near ground level. The roots form vertical loops in sucker-generated plants. Elliptic-oblong leaves can be opposite or alternate, leathery, up to 35 cm long, velvety on both sides when young, becoming smooth above when fully grown. Leaves are used for making beedis. Male flowers are mauve in colour, tetramerous to sextamerous, 1-1.5 cm long, sessile or nearly sessile in short peduncles, mostly 3-flowered. Female flowers mauve, mostly extra-axillary or sometimes solitary, axillary generally 2, opposite each other, larger than the male flowers. Fruits olive green, ovoid or globose 3-4 cm across; 1-, 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, or 8-seeded berries. Pulp yellow, soft and sweet. Seeds compressed, oblong, shiny, often banded.

Plant Location in Melghat : Scattered throughout,no where plentiful

Medicinal Use / Activity : The seeds can be intoxicating; they have been prescribed in India as a cure for mental disorders, nervous breakdowns and palpitations of the heart. The fruits have a cooling and an astringent effect. The dried flowers are reportedly useful in urinary, skin and blood diseases. The bark is astringent. A decoction is used in the treatment of Diarrhea.

Plant's Phytochemicals : COMPOUNDS: alpha-amyrin; beta-amyrin; beta-sitosterol; uvaol; oleanolic acid; ursolic acid; dihydroxytriterpenic acid; lupeol; betulin; sequoyitol;

ACTIVE COMPOUNDS (6):

Lupeol;

Beta-sitosterol;

Ursolic Acid;

Alpha-amyrin;

Oleanolic Acid;

Betulin;

Plant's Current Status : Common

Plant's Cross Database Reference : 259142

Reference : Dhore M. A. (1984) The flora of melghat tiger reserve - http://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Diospyros+melanoxylon - http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Coromandel%20Ebony.html - https://indiabiodiversity.org/species/show/265568 - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1076/phbi.39.1.20.5941 - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/251335833

Reference : ~ Dhore MA and Joshi PA; "Flora of Melghat Tiger Reserve"; Directorate, Project Tiger, Melghat (1988); PMID :

Kingdom : Plantae - Plants
Phylum : Tracheophyta
Subkingdom : Tracheobionta - Vascular plants
Superdivision : Spermatophyta - Seed plants
Division : Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class : Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Subclass :
Order : Ericales
Family : Ebenaceae
Genus : Diospyros
Species : Diospyros melanoxylon Roxb.

Diospyros melanoxylon Roxb.
Diospyros melanoxylon Roxb.
Diospyros melanoxylon Roxb.
Diospyros melanoxylon Roxb.
Diospyros melanoxylon Roxb.
Diospyros melanoxylon Roxb.
Diospyros melanoxylon Roxb.