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Diospyros montana
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Family:
EBENACEAE
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Citation: Diospyros montana Roxb., Pl. Corom. t. 48. 1795; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 3: 555. 1882; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 776(545). 1923; Sasidh. & Sivar., Fl. Pl. Thrissur For. 271. 1996; Sasidh., Fl. Shenduruny WLS 194. 1997; Sasidh., Fl. Periyar Tiger Reserve 231. 1998; Sasidh., Fl. Parambikulam WLS 182. 2002; V. Singh, Monogr. Indian Diospyros 166. 2005; Ratheesh Narayanan, Fl. Stud. Wayanad Dist. 498. 2009.
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Malayalam Name(s):
Bali, Malayakathitholi, Manjakara, Nanchimaram
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
Mottled ebony, Mountain persimmon
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Description:
Dioecious trees, to 20 m high, bark smooth, grey or yellowish-grey; blaze turmeric yellow; exudation scanty, watery; bole and branches with long hard, stiff, divaricate spines formed from stumps of branches; branchlets slender, glabrous, only those of the flush sparsely minutely pilose. Leaves simple, alternate, estipulate; petiole 5-10 mm, slender, grooved above, glabrous; lamina 4-10 x 2-4 cm, ovate, ovate-oblong, elliptic-oblong, base round, obtuse, subcordate or acute, apex obtuse, subacute or obtusely acuminate, margin entire, chartaceous, more or less softly pubescent when young, glabrous at maturity; lateral nerves 5-10 pairs, pinnate, slender, faint, intercostae reticulate, faint. Flowers unisexual, white; male flowers : 2-6 in axillary umbels; peduncle to 5 mm; calyx 3 mm long; lobes 4, ovate, imbricate, thick, margin ciliate, obtuse; corolla 6-7 mm long, greenish-yellow, urceolate, glabrous; lobes 4, ovate, imbricate, 2.5 mm long, subacute; stamens 16, roughly in 8 pairs, unequal; anthers lanceolate, awned; pistillode conical, pointed; female flowers: solitary, axillary; pedicel to 4 mm; calyx and corolla as in male flowers; staminodes 4, 5 mm, linear-lanceolate; ovary superior, 0.7 mm across, globose, glabrous, 8-celled, ovule one in each cell; styles 4, 1.5 mm long; stigma capitate; Fruit a berry, 1.5-2 cm across, ovoid to obconical, yellow to orange, glaucous; calyx foliaceous, slightly enlarged, foliaceous, reflexed; seeds 3-6, rough, black; endosperm equable.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
April-February
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District(s):
Palakkad, Idukki, Kollam, Thrissur, Wayanad
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Medicinal:
Yes
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Habitat:
Moist deciduous, dry deciduous and semi-evergreen forests
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Distribution:
Indo-Malesia to Australia
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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:
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Altitude:
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Localities:
Peechi, Kallar, Thekkady, Kanthalppara, Anakkalvayal
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