Common Name:

General Information

Diospyros melanoxylon is a medium-sized tree or shrub that can be deciduous in drier localities and evergreen in moister ones[]. It can grow up to 25 metres tall[]. The bole can be 60cm in diameter[].
The edible fruit is gathered from the wild for local use and is sold in local markets[]. The tree is cultivated in India and Bangladesh for its leaves which are used as wrappers for bidi (beedee) cigarettes[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

E. Asia - India, Sri Lanka.

Habitat

Dry deciduous forest as a constituent species of Tectona grandis, sal and mixed forests of Acacia leucophlea, Boswellia serrata, Butea monosperma, Lannea coromandelica and Terminalia tomentosa[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Evergreen Tree
Height	20.00 m
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details

A plant of the lowland tropics, where it is found at elevations up to 900 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 25 - 35°c, but can tolerate 8 - 48°c[]. Mature plants can be killed by temperatures of -5°c or lower, but young growth is severely damaged at -1°c[]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 800 - 1,200mm, but tolerates 500 - 1,500mm[].
Older trees require a sunny position, although young ones are shade tolerant[, ]. Requires a well-drained soil[]. Very tolerant of soil type, being found in poor denuded soils, hot and dry hill slopes, stony soils with quartzite, shale and sandstone, and also heavy clays[]. It however attains best growth and development on loose, porous soils in cool and moist sheltered valleys where it tends to be gregarious[]. Prefers a pH in the range 5.5 - 7, tolerating 5 - 7.5[]. Established plants are drought tolerant[].
The tree has a deep, tap-rooting habit[].
Flowers are produced on new shoots, the fruit taking 1 year to ripen[]. The tree produces good seed in alternate years[].
The tree is usually kept reserved and is not felled except in clear-felling coupes, as in the coppice-with-reserves working cycle in India[].
The main source of production of bidi leaves is from the bushes arising from the root suckers; leaves of bigger trees are stiff and brittle and therefore not capable of producing trade leaves for wrapping bidis[].
Where the objective of management is the production of leaves, heavy pruning is recommended as this promotes vegetative growth and the production of relatively large and thin leaves, although repeated pruning can cause stunted growth of trees[].
Plants up to 15 cm in girth are cut near the ground to encourage sprouting of coppice shoots, which gives best quality leaves after 40 - 50 days of operation. Coppicing experiments in India show that best quality of trade leaves are obtained by coppicing flush to the ground level twice, 2 weeks apart, then coppicing flush to the ground only once[].
The tree also pollards well, although the growth of the pollard shoots is slow. Pollarding is done to obtain a good flush of tender leaves, and plants over 15 cm girth are usually cut at 60 - 90 cm height[].
Management for small timber, poles or firewood requires a coppice rotation of about 30 years to give usable products[]. For ebony wood, a much longer rotation would be needed to give sufficient dimensions to the valuable heartwood[].
We have seen no individual confirmation for this species, but in general Diospyros species are dioecious and require both male and female forms to be grown if fruit and seed are required[].

Edible Uses

The fruits are edible[]. The yellow pulp is soft and sweet[]. The olive green fruit is ovoid or globose 3 - 4 cm across[].

Medicinal

The seeds can be intoxicating; they have been prescribed in India as a cure for mental disorders, nervous breakdowns and palpitations of the heart[].

The fruits have a cooling and an astringent effect[].

The dried flowers are reportedly useful in urinary, skin and blood diseases[].

The bark is astringent[]. A decoction is used in the treatment of diarrhoea[].

Other Uses

The leaves are used as the wrapping around tobacco to make bidi cigarettes in India[]. The leaves possess unrivalled qualities of flavour, colour, flexible and leathery texture, decay resistance and easy workability, which make them admirably suitable for wrapping bidis[].

The wood is hard, whitish-pink, tough, fairly durable[]. It is used for building, shoulder poles, mine props and shafts of carriages[]. The ebony is very heavy and valued for carving and other ornamental works[].
A good fuel wood; the calorific value of the sapwood is 4957 kcal/kg and of the heartwood, 5030 kcal/kg[].

Propagation

Seed - pre-soaking the seeds for about 12 hours in cold water improves germination. Seeds can be sown in situ[].
Orthodox seed storage behaviour; viability maintained for 1 year in open storage; viability lost within 1 year in hermetic storage at room temperature with 11-15% mc[].
As a rule fresh seeds have a high percentage of fertility. The seedlings develop long taproots at an early stage, often before any appreciable elongation of the shoot takes place. The growth of the seedling is decidedly slow [].

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