• Family : EBENACEAE
  (Ebony Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : BISTENDU FAMILY (बिसतॆंदु फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : EBENACEAE
• Basionym : Pisonia buxifolia Rottb.
• Synonym(s) : Diospyros ferrea var. angustifolia (Miq.) Bakh.; Diospyros ferrea var. buxifolia (Rottb.) Bakh.; Diospyros ferrea (Willd.) Bakh.
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Diospyros vera (Lour.) A.Chev.
• Common name : Philippine Ebony, Persimmon
• Vernacular name : Irumbili, Karianthovarai (Tamil); Chinna vullinji, Pisinika, Alli, Uli, Tella-alli, Chinna-ullingi, Uti, Yerruti (Telugu); Guakuli, Gaurkasa, Pisina, Pitonu (Oria); Tendu (Hindi); Irumpalei (Malayalam)
• Habit : Tree
• Habitat : Dry deciduous forests
• Comments / notes : On plains and scrub jungles to 900m.
• Key identification features : Bark is greyish-black, cleft in regular scales. The inner bark quite black
• Flower, Fruit : January-July
• Collector(s) Name : Raja K. Swamy, Arun Singh & K. Sankara Rao
• Collection Date : 24/02/2016
• Collection Nos : HJCB-0464
• Collection Locality : Chandaka WLS, Khurda district (OD)
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : Anantapur district, Nellore district, Vishakapatnam district, West Godavari district, Kadapa district, Srikakulam district
  • Karnataka : Ballari district, Dakshina Kannada district, Hassan district, Mysuru district, Shivamogga district, Udupi district, Uttara Kannada district
  • Kerala : Palakkad district, Idukki district, Alappuzha district, Kollam district, Thiruvananthapuram district
  • Odisha : Cuttack district, Puri district, Kendrapara district, Khurda district, Ganjam district, Mayurbhanj district
  • Tamil Nadu : Tiruvannamalai district, Villipuram district, Cuddalore district, Vellore district, Theni district
• Native : India, Sri Lanka
• World Distribution : India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, North Australia and Africa
• Conservation Status : Endangered (EN)
• Literature : Pullaiah et al., 2011 - Flora of Eastern Ghats Vol. 4; R. S. Rao et al., 1986 - Flora of West Godavari District; R. S. Rao and S. H. Sreeramulu, 1986 - Flora of Srikakulam District; IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. ; N.P.Singh, 1988. Flora of Eastern Karnataka; H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1995- Flora of Orissa Vol. 2; Sudhakar Reddy, C et al., 2009. Tree Wealth of Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh, India; Matthew, K.M., The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (1). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983; Neginhal, S.G. 2011. Forest trees of the Western Ghats includes Eastern Ghats Deccan Plateau; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI, Saldanha & Nicolson, 1976 – Flora of Hassan district; Cecil J. Saldanha, S. R. Ramesh (1984). Flora of Karnatka State vol. 1. Oxford and IBH Publishing Co, New Delhi; Gopalakrishna Bhat, 2003 - Udupi; Gopalakrishna Bhat, 2014 - Flora of South Kanara.
• 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=Maba buxifolia. Downloaded on 3 April 2025.

Botanical Description

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