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Diospyros assimilis
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Family:
EBENACEAE
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Citation: Diospyros assimilis Bedd., Madras For. Rep. 20. t.1. 1866-1867; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 3: 558. 1882; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 775(545). 1923; Sasidh. et al., Bot. Stud. Med. Pl. Kerala 30. 1996; Sasidh., Fl. Periyar Tiger Reserve 229. 1998; Sasidh., Fl. Parambikulam WLS 181. 2002; V. Singh, Monogr. Indian Diospyros 44. 2005.
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Malayalam Name(s):
Karinthali, Karu, Mushtimbi, Nanchimaram
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
Malabar Ebony
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Description:
Evergreen dioecious trees, to 20 m high, bark 4-6 mm thick, black, mottled with green and white, cracked; outer bark 1 mm thick, dark black, dead, inner bark 4-5 mm thick, brittle, yellowish-brown; branchlets thinly tomentose. Leaves simple, alternate, 7-17.5 x 3.5-6.5 cm, ovate, obovate, oblong, elliptic-oblong or elliptic-obovate, apex acuminate, base acute or unequally round, margin entire, glabrous, chartaceous; petiole 5-10 mm long, slender, glabrous; lateral nerves 4-7 pairs, lowest pair usually opposite, pinnate, prominent, intercostae reticulate, prominent, pellucid. Flowers unisexual, pale yellow, sessile; male flowers 7-8 mm across, in dense axillary cymes; female flowers larger, solitary; peduncle 3-5 mm long, covered with imbricating bracts. Calyx 2 mm long, cupular, densely tomentose in female; lobes 4, ovate, obtuse, glabrous, margin ciliate, reflexed. Corolla 10 mm long, salver shaped, densely minutely tomentose; lobes 4, 6 x 4 mm, ovate, acute, tomentose outside. Stamens 36, in groups of 4; filaments glabrous, unequal; anthers shortly unequal, acute, connective thinly villous along the back. Ovary superior, 8-celled, ovule 1-in each cell. Fruit a berry, globose, green, smooth.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
February-August
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District(s):
Palakkad, Thrissur, Idukki, Kannur, Kasaragode
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Medicinal:
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Habitat:
Evergreen forests
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Distribution:
Western Ghats
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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):
Creamy, White
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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:
Western Ghats
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IUCN status:
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Altitude:
-900
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Localities:
Koruthode, Karimala
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