Diospyros melanoxylon

Coromandel ebony
Bark of the Coromandel ebony
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Ebenaceae
Genus: Diospyros
Species:
D. melanoxylon
Binomial name
Diospyros melanoxylon
Synonyms[2]
  • Diospyros dubia Wall. ex A.DC.
  • Diospyros exsculpta Bedd.
  • Diospyros exsculpta Dalzell & Gibson
  • Diospyros montana B.Heyne ex A.DC.
  • Diospyros roylei Wall. ex A.DC.
  • Diospyros rubiginosa Roth
  • Diospyros tupru Buch.-Ham.
  • Diospyros wightiana Wall. nom. inval.

Diospyros melanoxylon, the Coromandel ebony or East Indian ebony, is a species of flowering tree in the family Ebenaceae native to India and Sri Lanka; it has a hard, dry bark. Its common name derives from Coromandel, the coast of southeastern India. Locally it is known as temburini or by its Hindi name tendu. In Odisha, Jharkhand, and Assam, it is known as kendu. In Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana it is known as tuniki. [3] The leaves can be wrapped around tobacco to create the Indian beedi,[4] which has outsold conventional cigarettes in India.[5] The olive-green fruit of the tree is edible.[6]


  1. ^ "Diospyros melanoxylon". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 9 April 2009.
  2. ^ "The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species".
  3. ^ http://harithaharam.telangana.gov.in/Silviculture%20of%20Species/Forest%20Seeds/045.htm
  4. ^ Lal, Pranay (25 May 2009). "Bidi – A short history" (PDF). Current Science. 96 (10). Bangalore, India: Current Science Association: 1335–1337. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  5. ^ "...bidis command 48 percent of the market while chewing tobacco commands 38 percent and cigarettes 14 percent..." Archived 6 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine, "The Tax Treatment of Bidis", tobaccofreeunion.org
  6. ^ "Diospyros melanoxylon - Useful Tropical Plants".