Diospyros Melanoxylon
Family : Ebenaceae
Synonymous : D. tomentosa
Common Name : Coromandel Ebony Persimmon,Ebony
English Name : Coromandel Ebony Persimmon,Ebony
Hindi Name : Abnus,Tendu, ,Kendu,Karundumbi
Telugu Name : Tuniki, Beedi Aaku
Bengali Name : Kendu, Kend
Tree Characteristics :
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. It readily grows on poor denuded soil, hot dry hill slopes and in moist valleys. It prefers loamy soil with dominant clay fraction and loose porous soil.
Nursery Practice :
Pretreatment- 24 hours cold water soaking before sowing. The pretreated seeds are either put in primary beds and then pricked out to the polybags or pregerminated seeds are sown in polythene bags. These are covered with a layer of hay and watered regularly. Because of very rapid development of the root, bigger size polythene bags are preferred. Pure sand or light sandy loam soil is better medium for germination. No. of seeds per kg is 1150; Germination percentage is 85 to 90 and the Germination period is 15 to 45 days.
Economic Use:
Ø The leaves are used as the wrapping around tobacco to make bidi cigarettes in India.
Ø 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.
Ø 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.
