• 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 saldanhae Kosterm.
• Habit : Tree
• Habitat : Shola forests
• Comments / notes : Common in Ghats along river banks in wet deciduous or semi-evergreen forests
• Key identification features : A tree to 12 m. Twigs and petioles hirsute. Leaves 7-15 cm long, oblong-lanceolate, acute, subcordate, hairy beneath. Male flowers in cymes. Female fl: solitary. Calyx hairy in male, of 5 ovate-lanceolate lobes; in female of 4 orbicular lobes. Corolla lobes hairy, in male 5, ovate, acuminate; in female oblong, rounded. Stamens 10. Ovary 2-locular, Berry to 3 cm across, bristly hairy
• Flower, Fruit : Throughout the year
• Collection Nos : KFP 8060, KFP 11522, HFP 62, CJS 13709
• Distribution :
  • Karnataka : Uttara Kannada district, Kodagu (Coorg) district, Chikkamagaluru district
  • Kerala : Kasaragod district, Kannur district, Wayanad district
• Native : India
• Endemism : South India
• World Distribution : India
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : Cecil J. Saldanha, S. R. Ramesh (1984). Flora of Karnataka State vol. 1. Oxford and IBH Publishing Co, New Delhi; Balakrishna Gowda & A.N. Sringesh 2004 – Sringeri (checklist unpublished); Keshava Murthy & Yoganarasimhan, 1990 – Flora of Coorg district; Gopalakrishna Bhat, 2014 - Flora of South Kanara; Sasidharan, N. 2011.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 saldanhae. Downloaded on 3 April 2025.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Field Image(s)