Diospyros ovalifolia Wight, Icon. Pl. Ind. Orient. 4: t. 1227 1848.;
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S. India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh as per WCSP;
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Habit- Trees up to 12 m tall. Branches and Branchlets- Young branches terete, sparse adpressed hairy.
Leaves- Leaves simple, alternate, distichous; petiole 0.5-1.0 cm long, canaliculate, glabrous; lamina 5-13 x 1.5-5 cm, usually narrow obovate, apex obtuse to rounded, base acute to cuneate, margin entire, coriaceous, glabrous, midrib canaliculate above; stout beneath; secondary nerves 6-9 pairs; tertiary nerves broadly reticulate.
Inflorescence / Flower- Flowers unisexual, dioecious; male flowers in axillary clusters usually on older branches, yellow; female flowers solitary or in clusters of 2-6, in leaf axils or on older branches.
Fruit and Seed- Berry, subsessile, globose, to 2 cm across; fruiting calyx reflexed; seeds 1.
Canopy trees in dry evergreen forests, up to 800 m.
Peninsular India & Sri Lanka; in the Western Ghats- leeward side of South Sahyadri
(Attributions- B. R. Ramesh, N. Ayyappan, Pierre Grard, Juliana Prosperi, S. Aravajy, Jean Pierre Pascal, The Biotik Team, French Institute of Pondicherry from India Biodiversity Portal)
. Help in I’d of Diospyros species : 10 posts by 4 authors. Attachments (1)- 1 mb. Looks like soapnut (Sapindus fruits) ??? It is Diospyros ovalifolia; (Identification based on seed) Doubtful ID. Does not match. Where 2 images attached; it is a rather rare species. Interested to know where was this species taken? . Found in Swamimalai, Yelagiri hills of Eastern ghats of TN.
Tree @1200M MSL.
Chances for Diospyros ebenum is more. Hard wood, trunk black- dark brown.
. References: Catalogue of Life The Plant List Ver.1.1 World Flora Online WCSP specimen GBIF (High resolution specimens) POWO Flora of Karnataka India Biodiversity Portal IBIS Flora (FBI) Biotik Wikipedia SEINet |