# Indian Medicinal Plants/Natural Order Ebenaceæ

N. 0. EBENACEÆ.
727. Diospyros montana, Roxb. h.f.b.l, iii. 555 ; Roxb. 415.
Vern. : — Tendu, bistend (Hind.); Neori, bhori (Bundelkhand); Hirek, keindu, temru, pasendu (Pb.) ; Makar-tendi, banda, muchi tanki, yerra goda (Tel.) ; Tembhurni, govindu, lohari (Mar) ; Tendu, bulguni, Kalagunda, (Kan).
Habitat :— From the Himalaya, throughout India (except Sindh and Northern Punjab).
A large shrub, or small deciduous tree, often spinous. Trunk usually crooked covered with dark rust colored nearly smooth bark. Branches sometimes spinescent. Branchlets and young leaves softly tomentose ; branchlets soon glabrous. Bark thin, grey or greyishblack, rough, when old, exfoliating in small scales. Wood grey, often tinged with yellow or brown, streaked with narrow patches or darker colour, especially towards the centre, but no regular ebony ; heart wood soft to moderately hard. Graham Anderson says, from Mysore, that the wood is difficult to cut with the axe (Gamble). Leaves bitter (Kanjilal), thinly chartaceous, ovateoblong, base rounded or cordate, blade 2-4in., petiole slender, 1/5-⅓in. long, secondary nerves 6-8 pair, slender ; " usually glabrous, sometimes pubescent beneath ; or on both sides, venation in conspicuous beneath " (Trimen). Flowers white, as a rule, 4-merous. Male flowers velvety, shortly pedunculate, or nearly sessile, usually 2-8fid, segments obtuse, velvety on both sides. Corolla ¼in. long, campanulate, outside glabrous or pubescent; lobes short, spreading. Stamens 16, in opposite pairs, united at the base, the outer longest. Anthers lanceolate, awned, glabrous. Female flowers axillary, solitary, drooping, on short pedicels. Calyx segments ovate, |in. long. Corolla nearly glabrous out- ​ side. Staminodes 4. Ovary glabrous, 8-celled. Fruit bitter, not edible, ½-1in, diam., yellow when ripe, supported by the enlarged foliacious Calyx-lobes. Albumen uniform (Brandis).
Use :— The fruit is supposed to be poisonous. The bhistis apply it to boils which generally appear on their hands and give them much pain and trouble (Stewart).
728. D. Embryopteris, Pers., h.f.b.i., iii. 556.
Syn. : — D. glutinosa, Kœn ; Roxb. 413.
Sans : — Tinduka.
Vern. : — Gáb, makur-kendi (Beng. and Hind.) ; Abnos-e-hindi (Arab.) ; Tendu (Ass.) ; Tumbika, pani-chika (Tam.) ; Tumik (Tel.) ; Timboree, temburni, (Mar) ; Kusharta, hagna, huli tumri, gavaudu (Kan).
Habitat :— Very common throughout India; abundant in Bengal.
A much-branched, dense, evergreen tree, of middle size. Buds silky, with appressed hairs. Branchlets glabrous. Bark smooth, dark-grey, almost black, with green tinge, exfoliating in large pieces. Wood grey, with darker streaks and darker, irregular patch in the centre (heartwood ?), moderately close-grained (Gamble). Leases distichous, 5½ by 2in., coriaceous, glabrous, shining, oblong, obtuse at the base, subacuminate, primary nerves oblique ; reticulating nerves distinctly, slightly, elevated on both sides ; petiole ¼-½in long, wrinkled when dry. Flowers as a rule 4-merous, white, cream-coloured, sweet scented. Maleflowers in short axillary pedunculate cymes, 1-¼in., of 3-6 flowers. Calyx hairy, cup-shaped, lobes ⅛-1/6in., triangular. Corolla tubular-campanulate, nearly glabrous without, ⅓ by 1/5in., lobes 1/10in. Stamens 24-64 in pairs, at the base of the corolla tube or on the receptacle beneath, subequal ; filaments short, hairy, anthers hairy, linear, much longer than the filaments. Female flowers larger, usually solitary sometimes in pairs (Brandis), 1-5 together, says C. B. Clarke subsessile or cymose, resembling the male " Calyx-lobes cordate, wider, subauriculate at base. Ovary hairy when young, glabrous when maturing, 8-celled. Styles 4, lobed at the tips; stigmas lohed. Fruit usually solitary, ​ l-2in. diam., yellow and sweet when ripe, subglobose, glandular or rusty, usually 4-8-seeded ; seeds embedded in a viscid pulp. Fruiting Calyx persistent, ⅔in across, lobes patent, villous within.
Uses : —The fruit and the bark possess astringent properties. The juice of the unripe fruit makes a good application to fresh wounds. It is full of tannin, and is therefore a useful domestic astringent, so plentiful as to be at the door of even the poorest hut. An oil extracted from the seeds is also used in native medicine, in dysentery and diarrhœa with success. Bark is used in intermittent fevers (Honnigberger).
It is used in dysentery and diarrhœa with success. The infusion of the fruit is used as a gargle in aphthae and sore-throat (Kanai Lai De Bahadur).
The seeds are preserved by the country people, and given as an astringent in diarrhœa (Dymock).
It is officinal in the Pharmacopœia of India.
729. D. melanoxylon, Roxb., h.f b.i., iii. 564 ; Roxb. 412.
Syn. :— D. Wightiana, Wall
Sans. : — Kakundoo.
Vern. : — Tendu, kendu, abnú ('Hind.) ; Kend, kyou (Beng.) ; Tumri, tummer, tumki (Gond.) ; Tumbi, tumbali (Tam.) ; Tumi, tumki (Tel.). Tamrug (Guz).
Habitat : — Deccan Peninsula.
A large, or moderate sized, deciduous tree, attaining 50ft., and 6ft. in girth, greyish black, cleft into small rectangular plates, showing the black inner bark in the clefts. The bark shows alternate layers of brown and black, so that as it wears the surface shows partly of either colour. Wood hard, reddish-brown, with an irregular black heartwood. Young parts covered with grey or rusty tomentum. Leaves alternate and subopposite, says Kanjilal; mostly opposite, says Brandis ; thickly coriaceous, hairy or glabrous on the underside when full grown, elliptic or ovate ; blade 3-12in., petiole ½in., secondary nerves 6-10 pair, as well as the reticulate tertiary nerves raised on the upperside. ​Flowers 4-6-merous. Males on short cymes, calyx woolly, campanulate or cup-shaped. Corolla tubular, ferrugineous, woolly outside, stamens 12-16. Female flowers solitary, larger than the Calyx, broad, edges recurved; ovary 4-8-celled, densely hairy; styles 2-3. Fruit glabrous, smooth, globose, or ovoid, 1-1¼in. diam., yellow, edible when ripe, supported by the thickly coriaceous Calyx, the segments with more or less recurved edges. Seeds 4-8, compressed, oblong; testa rugose, shining, albumen ruminate. Pulp yellow, sweet-aromatic, slightly mucilaginous, particularly near the testa of the seed.
Uses:—The bark of the tree, possesses astringent properties, and is used as decoction in diarrhœa and dyspepsia as a tonic. In a dilute form, it is used as an astringent lotion for the eyes.
The Hakims apply its powder in ulceration of the cornea and recommend it internally with black pepper in dysentery (Honnigberger).
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