''Diospyros melanoxylon'', the Coromandel ebony or East Indian ebony, is a species of

flowering A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism ...

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

in the family Ebenaceae native to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and Sri Lanka; it has a hard, dry bark. Its common name derives from

Coromandel Coromandel may refer to: Places India *Coromandel Coast, India **Presidency of Coromandel and Bengal Settlements ** Dutch Coromandel *Coromandel, KGF, Karnataka, India New Zealand *Coromandel, New Zealand, a town on the Coromandel Peninsula *Coro ...

, the coast of southeastern India. Locally it is known as ''temburini'' or by its

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

name ''tendu''. In

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . I ...

, and

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

, it is known as ''kendu''. In

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

, and Telengana it is known as ''tuniki'. The leaves can be wrapped around tobacco to create the Indian ''

beedi A beedi (also spelled bidi or biri) is a thin cigarette or mini-cigar filled with tobacco flake and commonly wrapped in a tendu (''Diospyros melanoxylon'') or ''Piliostigma racemosum'' leaf tied with a string or adhesive at one end. It origi ...

'', which has outsold conventional cigarettes in India. The olive-green fruit of the tree is edible

Pharmacology

The leaf of the tree contains valuable flavones. The pentacyclic

triterpene Triterpenes are a class of chemical compounds composed of three terpene units with the molecular formula C30H48; they may also be thought of as consisting of six isoprene units. Animals, plants and fungi all produce triterpenes, including squa ...

s found in the leaves possess antimicrobial properties, while the bark shows

antihyperglycemic Drugs used in diabetes treat diabetes mellitus by altering the glucose level in the blood. With the exceptions of insulin, most GLP receptor agonists (liraglutide, exenatide, and others), and pramlintide, all are administered orally and are th ...

activity. The bark of four ''Diospyros'' species found in India has been determined to have significant

antiplasmodial ''Plasmodium'' is a genus of unicellular eukaryotes that are obligate parasites of vertebrates and insects. The life cycles of ''Plasmodium'' species involve development in a blood-feeding insect host which then injects parasites into a ver ...

effects against '' Plasmodium falciparum'', which causes

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

in humans.

Method of collection

Tendu leaves are used as a wrapper for

. During the summer, fresh leaves are produced by the suckers that emerge from the soil. This is also enhanced by lighting a fire beneath the Tendu tree. The fresh leaves are hand-picked by the tribals and dried in the sun for 10 days. This practice is seen in Maharashtra,

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

and Chhattisgarh states of

. The State Government gives the license for collection and processing of the tendu leaves through tender every year.

Culture and Mythology

Tendu, also known as ''Tiril,'' and ''Kendu'' has cultural and mythological reference as well. According to the Munda people, during the ancient ''Sengael Deaah'' (an event of raining fire) their predecessors took shelter in the

tree hollow A tree hollow or tree hole is a semi-enclosed cavity which has naturally formed in the trunk or branch of a tree. They are found mainly in old trees, whether living or not. Hollows form in many species of trees, and are a prominent feature of nat ...

of the ''Tiril'' tree. ''Tiril(tendu)'' tree is considered not easily flammable. A

in the tiril tree is a usual sight as the tribes strike the trunk with big stones in order to make the ripened fruit fall. This repeated striking over time makes a hole in the tree. Due to the non-flammable nature of the tree, after the plantation of paddy, the tribes plant a branch of it in the field in order to protect the crop from any events of ''Sengael Deaah'' in the future. Tendu tree is also used in making

hockey stick A hockey stick is a piece of sports equipment used by the players in all the forms of hockey to move the ball or puck (as appropriate to the type of hockey) either to push, pull, hit, strike, flick, steer, launch or stop the ball/ puck during pla ...

s by the

adivasi The Adivasi refers to inhabitants of Indian subcontinent, generally tribal people. The term is a Sanskrit word coined in the 1930s by political activists to give the tribal people an indigenous identity by claiming an indigenous origin. The term ...

s of

and

. A young and straight branch of the tree is heated in fire and slowly shaped into the curves of a hockey stick. Many villages have been named after the location and presence of the tree in the neighbourhood. These include - Tiril Posi, Tiril, Tiril Haatu, Kenduda('''Tendu''' is also known as '''Kendu in the South Chotanagpur region) in

and the Kendhujhar district in

Varieties

There is one named variety of this species, ''Diospyros melanoxylon'' var. ''tupru.''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2672321 melanoxylon Flora of India (region) Trees of Sri Lanka Non-timber forest products Taxa named by William Roxburgh