Diospyros melanoxylon

Botanical Name – Diospyros melanoxylon

Common Name – Dirghapatraka (Sanskrit), Tendu, Temru, Tumri, Timburni, Bistendu, Lohari (Hindi), Timburni (Marathi), Tamrug (Gujrati)

Distribution

• Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Assam
  
  

Habit

• Medium sized, deciduous or evergreen tree depending on habitat
• Slow growing
  
  

Habitat

• Dry deciduous forest
  
  

Specific properties

• Drought tolerant
• High degree of mortality mainly due to grazing, cutting, leaf plucking and fires
  
  

Ecology

• Fruit preferred by fruit bats and birds, notably hornbills
• Leaves and fruits are food for sloth bear, langurs
• Larval host plant for Baronet, Redspot Duke and Common Silverline butterflies
  
  

Uses

• The olive-green fruit of the tree is edible
• Contributes to socio-economic livelihood of tribal people in India
• Fruit is consumed by tribes in different forms as pulp, paste, powder and fruit wine
• Leaves are used to create beedi, a traditional cigarette
• Leaves are used in treatment of scabies, old wounds, as laxative and against digestive problems
• Fruit is used in treating digestive disorders, urinary, skin and blood diseases
• The seeds can be used to cure mental disorders, nervous system breakdown, and palpitation of the heart
• Its wood is also used for making boxes, combs, ploughs and beams

Propagation

• Seeds