• Family : EBENACEAE
  (Ebony Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : BISTENDU FAMILY (बिसतॆंदु फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : EBENACEAE
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Diospyros melanoxylon Roxb.
• Common name : Ebony Tree, Tendu, Coromandel ebony, Malabar ebony, Persimmon ebony
• Vernacular name : Kendu, Tendu, Timburni (Hindi); Abanasi, Tumari, Beedi-yele-mara (Kannada); Karunthumbi, Beedielai (Tamil); Tumki, Mancigata, Nallatumki, Beedi aku, Tellagada, Tuki, Manchi Tumiki (Telugu); Kendu (Oria); Temru, Tendu, Temburni (Marathi); Beediyilamaram, Kari, Thumbimaram (Malayalam)
• Habit : Tree
• Habitat : Dry deciduous forests
• Comments / notes : On hills up to 1100m, in open dry deciduous forests. Leaves are highly valued and used for rolling beedies (local cigarettes)
• Flower, Fruit : January-June
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : Common
  • Karnataka : Common
  • Kerala : Wayanad district, Palakkad district, Idukki district
  • Maharashtra : Akola district
  • Odisha : Common
  • Tamil Nadu : Common
• Native : India, Sri Lanka
• World Distribution : India, Sri Lanka
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : Pullaiah et al., 2011 - Flora of Eastern Ghats Vol. 4; H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1995- Flora of Orissa Vol. 2; R. S. Rao and S. H. Sreeramulu, 1986 - Flora of Srikakulam District; H. O. Saxena and M. Brahmam, 1989 - The Flora of Similipahar (Similipal), Orissa; Sudhakar Reddy, C et al., 2009. Tree Wealth of Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh, India; N.P.Singh, 1988. Flora of Eastern Karnataka; Matthew, K.M., The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (1). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI.
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Raja K Swamy, Deepak Kumar, Arun Singh R. and K. Gopalakrishna Bhat (2019). Flora of Peninsular India. http://peninsula.ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Diospyros melanoxylon. Downloaded on 3 June 2025.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Line Drawings