Terminalia chebula

Terminalia chebula
A leafless T. chebula tree
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Myrtales
Family:	Combretaceae
Genus:	Terminalia
Species:	T. chebula
Binomial name
Terminalia chebula Retz.
Synonyms
Buceras chebula (Retz.) Lyons Combretum argyrophyllum K.Schum. Myrobalanus chebula (Retz.) Gaertn. Myrobalanus gangetica (Roxb.) Kostel. Myrobalanus tomentella Kuntze Terminalia acuta Walp. Terminalia argyrophylla King & Prain Terminalia gangetica Roxb. Terminalia parviflora Thwaites Terminalia reticulata Roth Terminalia tomentella Kurz Terminalia zeylanica Van Heurck & Müll. Arg.

Terminalia chebula, commonly known as black- or chebulic myrobalan, is a species of Terminalia, native to South Asia from India and Nepal east to southwest China (Yunnan), and south to Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Vietnam.

Swedish naturalist Anders Jahan Retzius described the species.

Many varieties are known, such as:

T. chebula is a medium to large deciduous tree growing to 30 m (98 ft) tall, with a trunk up to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) in diameter. The leaves are alternate to subopposite in arrangement, oval, 7–8 cm (2.8–3.1 in) long and 4.5–10 cm (1.8–3.9 in) broad with a 1–3 cm (0.39–1.18 in) petiole. They have an acute tip, cordate at the base, margins entire, glabrous above with a yellowish pubescence below. The fruit is drupe-like, 2–4.5 cm (0.79–1.77 in) long and 1.2–2.5 cm (0.47–0.98 in) broad, blackish, with five longitudinal ridges. The dull white to yellow flowers are monoecious, and have a strong, unpleasant odour. They are borne in terminal spikes or short panicles. The fruits are smooth ellipsoid to ovoid drupes, yellow to orange-brown in colour, with a single angled stone.

T. chebula Is found throughout South East Asia - India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand. In China: Native in W Yunnan; cultivated in Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi (Nanning), and Taiwan (Nantou).

In India it is found in the Sub Himalayan tracks from Ravi eastwards to West Bengal and Assam, ascending up to the altitude of 1 500 m in the Himalayas. This tree is wild in forests of Northern India, central provinces and Bengal, common in Madras, Mysore and in the southern part of the Bombay presidency.

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Wikipedia