In this article we will discuss about:- 1. Characters of Ebenaceae 2. Distribution of Ebenaceae 3. Economic Importance.
Characters of Ebenaceae:
Absence of milky sap., unisexual flowers, stamens twice as many corolla – lobes, multilocular superior ovary, ovules bitegmic and typically in pairs, styles two to eight.
A. Vegetative characters:
Habit:
Dioecious trees or shrubs, lacking milky sap.
Root:
Tap, deep and branched.
Stem:
Erect, woody, branched, heart wood often black, red or green.
Leaf:
Simple, alternate, rarely opposite or whorled, leathery, entire and exstipulate.
B. Floral characters:
Inflorescence:
Axillary solitary or cymose.
Flower:
Unisexual, usually in dioecious plants, rarely hermaphrodite and polygamous, actinomorphic, 3-7-merous, hypogynous.
Calyx:
Sepals 3-7 usually 4-5, gamosepalous, persistent.
Corolla:
Petals as many as sepals gamopetalous, 3-7 lobed, urceolate, coracious, usually contorted and imbricate or contorted in bud.
Androecium:
Stamens are as many as or twice or thrice the number of petals, or stamens in some species may be numerous, distinct but epipetalous (filaments adnate to the corolla); anther bithecal, introrse, dehiscing longitudinally. Staminodes may occur in a female, i.e. pistillate flower, similarly pistillode (vestigeal or rudimentary pistil) may be present in a male flower.
The frequent occurrence of numerous stamens is the result of chorisis or branching of original staminal primordia.
Gynoecium:
Carpels 2-16, usually 2-8 united in a superior ovary with chambers as many as carpels; development of false septas in the ovary is of frequent occurrence. Ovules 2-1, bitegmic (with two integuments), anatropous and pendulous in each ovarian chamber; placentation axile. Styles 2-8, free or united at the base, stigmas small entire or lobed.
Fruit:
Berry – one or a few seeded.
Seed:
Straight embryo surrounded by cartilaginous or ruminate endosperm.
Pollination:
Entomophilous.
Floral formulae:
Distribution of Ebenaceae:
Ebenaceae or Ebony family with 5 genera and 400-500 species is distributed principally in India, Malay Peninsula and Africa.
Economic Importance of Ebenaceae:
1. Food:
Fruits of Diospyros kaki, D. lotus and D. virginiana are edible.
2. Timber:
Diospyros ebenum, D. Kurzii, D. melanoxylon, D. mantana, D. quaesita, D. reticulata and Euclea pseudoebenus are good source of timber, the timer is used for cabinet making known as ebony. The natural colour of timber is black and takes high polish.
3. Bidis:
The leaves of Diospyros tomentosa are used for rolling ‘Bidis’ a kind of cheap cigarette.
4. Miscellaneous:
The fruits of Diospyros peregrina care utilised for smearing the bottoms of boats and for steeping fish-nets in order to make them water-proof.
Common plants of the family:
1. Diospyros – a good source of timber.
2. Maba – tree, trimerous perianth.
3. Royena – African genus with hermaphrodite flowers.
4. Tetraclis – endemic in Madagascar.
5. Diospyros ebenum – a native of southern India and Ceylon, with hard wood.