Diospyros melanoxylon, Roxb. |
Family : Ebenaceae |
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| Common Name : Ebony, Tendu |
Telugu Name : Tuniki, Beedi Aaku |
General :
It is found all over Andhra Pradesh. Identifying features are greyish black bark in small rectangular plates. It readily grows on poor denuded soil, hot dry hill slopes and in moist valleys. It prefers loamy soil with dominant clay fraction and loose porous soil.
Flowering :
April to June. |
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| Fruiting : |
| Fruit ripens from March to April. |
| Morphology of the Fruit / Seed : |
Fruit is globose, subsessile, smooth, 2.5 to 3.8 cms in dia., yellow when ripe supported by the thickly coriaceous calyx with wavy reflexed margins. Seeds usually 3 to 4, compressed, oblong, brown, shining with a wrinkled testa. |
| Seed Collection and Storage : |
Ripe fruits are collected from April to June by shaking the banches. The seeds are collected after removal of the edible pulp and then dried and stored. Viability is retained upto one year. |
| Seed Biology : |
No. of seeds per Kg. |
Germination percentage |
Plant percent |
No. of seedlings per Kg. of seed |
Time for germination in days |
1150 |
85 to 90 |
60 |
690 |
15 to 45 |
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Pretreatment : |
| 24 hours cold water soaking before sowing. |
| Nursery Techniques : |
The pretreated seeds are either put in primary beds and then pricked out to the polybags or pregerminated seeds are sown in polythene bags. These are covered with a layer of hay and watered regularly. Because of very rapid development of the root, bigger size polythene bags are preferred. Pure sand or light sandy loam soil is better medium for germination.
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