Diospyros ebenum Koenig - EBENACEAE

Vernacular names : Tamil:  Velleithuvarai, Vellathovarai  Malayalam: Katupanachi

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literatures

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Trees up to 12 m tall.
Trunk & Bark : Bark black, smooth.
Branches and Branchlets : Branchlets terete, glabrous.
Leaves : Leaves simple, alternate, distichous; petiole 0.3-0.8 cm long, glabrous, subterete; lamina 5-13.5 x 1.5-4.5 cm, elliptic or oblong, apex acuminate with blunt tip or obtuse, base acute to rounded, margin entire, midrib flat; secondary_nerves 5-8 pairs, lower most pairs close and acute in angle; tertiary_nerves reticulate.
Inflorescence / Flower : Flowers unisexual; male flowers subsessile, in 3-flowered, axillary cymes, cream; female flowers subsessile, axillary, solitary, pedicels 0.2 cm long.
Fruit and Seed : Berry, globose or subglobose, to 2 cm across, apiculate, with fruiting_calyx_lobes accrescent, reflexed; usually 4 seeded, rarely 2-8.

Ecology :

Canopy trees in dry evergreen forests, up to 800 m.

Distribution :

Peninsular India and Sri Lanka; in the Western_Ghats- leeward side of the South Sahyadri and Nilgiris.

Literatures :

Koenig, Physiogr. Salsk. Mag. 1: 176. 1781; Singh, Monograph on Indian Diospyros L. (Persimmon, Ebony) Ebenaceae. 89. 2005; Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 270. 2004; Gamble, Fl. Madras 2: 775. 1993 (re. ed).

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