Diospyros paniculata

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Diospyros paniculata
Kari (Tamil- kaari) (8903466408).jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Ebenaceae
Genus: Diospyros
Species:
D. paniculata
Binomial name
Diospyros paniculata
Dalzell

Diospyros paniculata, or the panicle-flowered ebony, is a species of tree in the ebony family. [2] Endemic to the Western Ghats area of India and parts of Bangladesh, [3] the species is currently listed as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List. [4]

Contents

Description

Branchlet with leaves Diospyros paniculata 16.JPG
Branchlet with leaves

Evergreen trees up to 16 m tall, with smooth, black bark. The blaze is a dull orange. The young branchlets are cylindrical, covered by black, sooty hairs. The tree's leaves are simple, alternate, distichous, with petioles about 0.5-1.1 cm long, flat, glabrous. The leaf blade is about 9 to 27 cm long by 3.5-8 cm wide, and has an entire margin and a raised midrib. The leaf shape is usually narrow elliptic-oblong to lanceolate, with acute to acuminate apex ending in a blunt tip. The leaf base is acute to rounded. The leaf is thick (coriaceous) with minute pellucid dots beneath. The venation, with 6-9 pairs of secondary nerves, is strongly and closely reticulate on both surfaces. [5]

The flowers are unisexual and greenish-yellow in colour. The male flowers appear in axillary paniculate cymes and have dull or creamy white corollas, with tube 12 mm long. The female flowers are also axillary, but solitary or in cymes of 2 to 5 flowers. The calyx is covered with black sooty hairs. The fruit is a berry. The fruit is ovoid (egg-shaped) and about 3 to 4 cm long by 2-3 cm wide. It is yellowish brown in colour, with a coating of rusty and sooty hairs when young. As it matures, the fruit becomes glabrous (hairless). The calyx (1.5 by 3 cm) remains attached (accrescent) to the fruit. The fruit has four seeds, smooth in texture and 2 by 0.8 cm in size. [6]

Range

The species is endemic to the Western Ghats, distributed along the central and southern tracts of the mountain range. It is distributed from the Konkan region of Maharashtra in the north, through western Karnataka (Uttara Kannada, Shimoga) in the central Western Ghats. In the southern Western Ghats it occurs in the states of Kerala (from Kannur in the north to Thiruvananthapuram in the south) and in Tamil Nadu (Anamalai hills of Coimbatore, Nilgiris, and Agashtyamalai hills of Tirunelveli District). [7]

Habitat

The species is found in low- and mid-elevation tropical wet evergreen forests, between 500 and 1200 m elevation. [5] [8]

Ecology

The species is an understorey or sub-canopy tree. [6] D. paniculata has an associated ascomycete fungal species Penicilliopsis clavariiformis, occurring on the fruits and seeds. [9]

Etymology

The generic name Diospyros is derived from the Ancient Greek : διόσπυρος: transl. grc – transl. dióspyros, from diós(Διός) and pyrós(πῡρός), which literally means "Zeus's wheat" but more generally intends "divine food" or "divine fruit". [10] The specific epithet refers to the flower clusters (panicles). The plant is commonly known as panicle-flowered ebony in English. The following local names are known in Indian languages: [5] [11] [12]

Taxonomy

The species has no synonyms reported. [13]

Uses

The species is known to have medicinal properties. [14] Dried and powdered fruits are reportedly used for healing burns and a decoction prepared from the fruit is used for treating gonorrhoea and biliousness and for cleaning boils. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ebenaceae</span> Family of flowering plants

The Ebenaceae are a family of flowering plants belonging to order Ericales. The family includes ebony and persimmon among about 768 species of trees and shrubs. It is distributed across the tropical and warmer temperate regions of the world. It is most diverse in the rainforests of Malesia, India, Thailand, tropical Africa and tropical America.

<i>Diospyros mespiliformis</i> Species of tree

Diospyros mespiliformis, the jackalberry, is a large dioecious evergreen tree found mostly in the savannas of Africa. Jackals are fond of the fruit, hence the common names. It is a member of the family Ebenaceae, and is related to the true ebony and edible persimmon.

<i>Gluta travancorica</i> Species of flowering plant

Gluta travancorica is a species of plant in the family Anacardiaceae. It is endemic to the southern Western Ghats in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orophea thomsonii</span> Species of flowering plant

Orophea thomsonii or Thomson's Turret Flower is a species of shrub or small tree in the Annonaceae family. It is native to Kerala and Tamil Nadu in India and endemic to the Western Ghats mountain range.

<i>Palaquium ravii</i> Species of flowering plant

Palaquium ravii is a species of tree in the family Sapotaceae. It is endemic to the Western Ghats mountains and native to Kerala and Tamil Nadu in India.

<i>Syzygium densiflorum</i> Species of flowering plant

Syzygium densiflorum is a species of evergreen tree in the family Myrtaceae. It is endemic to the Western Ghats mountains, India. The species is categorised as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List.

<i>Vatica chinensis</i> Species of tree

Vatica chinensis is a species of flowering tree in the family Dipterocarpaceae, found in South Asia.

<i>Artocarpus hirsutus</i> Species of flowering plant

Artocarpus hirsutus, commonly known as wild jack, is a tropical evergreen tree species that is native to India, primarily in Kerala, but also in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, where it grows in moist, deciduous to partially evergreen woodlands.

<i>Garcinia indica</i> Species of tree

Garcinia indica, a plant in the mangosteen family (Clusiaceae), commonly known as kokum, is a fruit-bearing tree that has culinary, pharmaceutical, and industrial uses. It grows primarily in India's Western Ghats: in the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala. It is considered as an endemic species to the Western Ghats and forests in India.

<i>Diospyros atrata</i> Species of flowering plant

Diospyros atrata is a tree in the family Ebenaceae. It commonly grows to 25 metres tall. The plant can be seen in subcanopy trees in medium elevation wet evergreen forests between 1000 and 1400 m in Western Ghats- South Sahyadri, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu in India and from Kandy district in Sri Lanka

<i>Diospyros candolleana</i> Species of flowering plant

Diospyros candolleana, is a tree in the Ebony family, endemic to the Western Ghats of India and Sri Lanka. The trees are usually 20m tall, and found as subcanopy trees in wet evergreen forests up to 90m.

Diospyros ovalifolia, known as bastard ebony, is a tree in the family, Ebenaceae, endemic to the leeward side of South Sahyadri of Western Ghats of India and Sri Lanka.

<i>Dipterocarpus bourdillonii</i> Species of tree

Dipterocarpus bourdillonii is a species of large tree in the family Dipterocarpaceae endemic to the Western Ghats principally in the state of Kerala in India. It is a Critically Endangered species according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is a characteristic tree of the low-elevation tropical wet evergreen rainforests in the Western Ghats.

<i>Diospyros revaughanii</i> Species of flowering plant

Diospyros revaughanii is a rare species of tree in the family Ebenaceae (ebony).

<i>Bhesa indica</i> Species of flowering plant

Bhesa indica is a flowering plant tree species in the Centroplacaceae family. It is distributed along the tropical wet evergreen forests of the Western Ghats of India. It is considered synonymous with Bhesa paniculata by some authors.

<i>Dipterocarpus indicus</i> Species of tree

Dipterocarpus indicus is a species of large tree in the family Dipterocarpaceae endemic to the Western Ghats of India. It is recognised as an endangered species under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021.

<i>Drypetes wightii</i> Species of tree

Drypetes wightii is an evergreen tree species endemic to the Western Ghats, India. The species is considered Vulnerable under the IUCN Redlist of Threatened Species.

<i>Dysoxylum malabaricum</i> Species of plant

Dysoxylum malabaricum, or white cedar, is a tree species endemic to the Western Ghats, India. The species is considered Endangered under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

<i>Euonymus indicus</i> Species of plant

Euonymus indicus, the Indian spindle tree, is a small evergreen understorey tree in the family Celastraceae. It can grow up to a height of 13 m and girth up to 1 m.

<i>Calophyllum apetalum</i> Species of plant

Calophyllum apetalum is a species of tree endemic to the Western Ghats region of India. It is also called as the Konkan beauty leaf tree or Poon spar of Travancore.

References

  1. ↑ Ved, D.; Saha, D.; Ravikumar, K.; Haridasan, K. (2015). "Diospyros paniculata". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2015: e.T173931A1405117. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-2.RLTS.T173931A1405117.en . Retrieved 17 August 2022.
  2. ↑ "Diospyros paniculata". iNaturalist. Retrieved 2022-08-17.
  3. ↑ "Diospyros paniculata Dalzell". Kew Science – Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
  4. 1 2 IUCN (2014-07-16). "Diospyros paniculata: Ved, D., Saha, D., Ravikumar, K. & Haridasan, K.: The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015: e.T173931A1405117". doi: 10.2305/iucn.uk.2015-2.rlts.t173931a1405117.en .{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. 1 2 3 "Diospyros paniculata - Ebenaceae". www.biotik.org. Retrieved 2022-08-17.
  6. 1 2 "Diospyros paniculata (Ebenaceae): Karivella, Karumaram, Karivella, Illakatta, Thuvara". keralaplants.in. Retrieved 2022-08-17.
  7. ↑ Sasidharan, N. (2004). Biodiversity Documentation for Kerala Part 6: Flowering Plants. Peechi: Kerala Forest Research Institute.
  8. ↑ Pascal, Jean-Pierre; Pelissier, Raphael (1996). "Structure and floristic composition of a tropical evergreen forest in south-west India". Journal of Tropical Ecology. 12 (2): 191–214. doi:10.1017/S026646740000941X. ISSN   0266-4674. S2CID   84551369.
  9. ↑ Krishnapriya, K (2020). "First record of the halophilic fungus Penicilliopsis clavariiformis from Diospyros paniculata" (PDF). Studies in Fungi. 5 (1): 400–405. doi:10.5943/sif/5/1/21. S2CID   220903476.
  10. ↑ Jaeger, Edmund Carroll (1959). A source-book of biological names and terms. Internet Archive. Springfield, Ill. : Thomas. ISBN   978-0-398-00916-8.
  11. ↑ "Diospyros paniculata - efloraofindia". sites.google.com. Retrieved 2022-08-17.
  12. ↑ Ingalhalikar, Shrikant (2015). Further Flowers Of Sahyadri. Corolla Publications.
  13. ↑ "Diospyros paniculata Dalzell". www.worldfloraonline.org. Retrieved 2022-08-17.
  14. ↑ Gowthami, R.; Sharma, Neelam; Pandey, Ruchira; Agrawal, Anuradha (2021). "Status and consolidated list of threatened medicinal plants of India". Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution. 68 (6): 2235–2263. doi:10.1007/s10722-021-01199-0. ISSN   0925-9864. PMC   8148398 . PMID   34054223.
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