1393

                                                  Diospyros montana Roxb.

Synonym	:	Diospyros montana B.Heyne ex A.DC.
Family	:	Ebenaceae
Local name	:	English- Mottled ebony Malayalam-  Manjakara
Flowering and fruiting period	:	April-February
Distribution	:	Indo-Malesia to Australia
Distribution in Kerala	:	Palakkad, Idukki, Kollam, Thrissur, Wayanad
Habitat	:	. Found in hills to 1200m.Moist deciduous, dry deciduous and semi-evergreen forests.
Uses		Tender shoots are cooked and eaten. The wood is used for agricultural implements and handles. Tender shoots are boiled with salt and tied over aching joints. The bark is an important ingredient of many medicines.
Key botanical characters:  Dioecious trees, bark smooth, grey or yellowish-grey; Leaves simple, alternate, estipulate; . Flowers unisexual, white; male flowers : 2-6 in axillary umbels; peduncle to 5 mm; calyx 3 mm long; lobes 4, ovate, imbricate, thick, margin ciliate, obtuse; corolla 6-7 mm long, greenish-yellow, urceolate, glabrous; lobes 4, ovate, imbricate, 2.5 mm long, subacute; stamens 16, roughly in 8 pairs, unequal; anthers lanceolate, awned; pistillode conical, pointed; female flowers: solitary, axillary; pedicel to 4 mm; calyx and corolla as in male flowers; staminodes 4, 5 mm, linear-lanceolate; ovary superior, 0.7 mm across, globose, glabrous, 8-celled, ovule one in each cell; styles 4, 1.5 mm long; stigma capitate; Fruit a berry,  yellow to orange, seeds 3-6, rough, black;