Diospyros ebenum J.Koenig ex Retz.

കരിമരം

Family : Ebenaceae

Synonym : Diospyros assimilis Bedd.

Common Names : Karingali, Karu, Ceylon ebony, east-Indian ebony

Flowering Period : February – April

Distribution : Peninsular India and Sri Lanka

Habitat : Dry deciduous forests

Uses : The edible fruits have medicinal properties as attenuant and lithontripic. The pounded bark and leaves are employed as a blistering plaster. The wood is very hard, heavy, very durable, being resistant to insect attack and fungi. The wood is difficult to season and work by hand, it takes a high glossy finish. It finds use in sports goods, musical and mathematical instruments, ornamental carvings, piano keys, chess pieces, rulers, the backs of brushes, stands for ornaments and turnery.

Key Characters :

Evergreen dioecious trees, to 15 m high, bark black or grey-black, rough. Leaves simple, alternate; lamina elliptic-oblong, margin entire. Flowers unisexual, greenish-yellow; male flowers axillary, umbellate clusters; calyx cupular; lobes 4, ovate; corolla, tubular to salver-shaped; lobes 4; stamens 6-12, unequal; female flowers: solitary; calyx cupular; corolla, tubular; lobes 4; ovary superior, globose, 8-celled; stigma capitellate. Fruit a berry.