60
Diospyros
ebenum Koenig
Synonym : Diospyros assimilis Bedd.
Family
: Ebenaceae
Local Names
: Karingali, Karu, East
Indian Ebony, Ceylon Ebony
Flowering
and fruiting period:
February – April
Distribution: Peninsular India and Sri Lanka
Habitat: Dry deciduous forests
IUCN
status:
Data Deficient
Endemic: No
Uses: The edible fruits have medicinal
properties as attenuant and lithontripic. The pounded bark and leaves are
employed as a blistering plaster. The wood is very hard, heavy, very durable,
being resistant to insect attack and fungi. The wood is difficult to season and
work by hand, it takes a high glossy finish. It finds use in sports goods,
musical and mathematical instruments, ornamental carvings, piano keys, chess
pieces, rulers, the backs of brushes, stands for ornaments and turnery.
Key
Characters:
Evergreen dioecious trees, to 15 m
high, bark black or grey-black, rough. Leaves simple, alternate; lamina
elliptic-oblong, margin entire. Flowers unisexual, greenish-yellow; male
