Chandigarh Forests

Department of Forest & Wildlife
UT Administration
Chandigarh

TERMINALIA CHEBULA Retz.

Division

Angiosperms

Class

Dicotledons

Subclass

Polypetalae

Series

Calyciflorae

Order

Myrtales

Family

Combretaceae

Genus

Terminalia

Species

chebula

Botanical name:

 

Terminalia chebula Retz.

Local/Trade Names:

Chebulic Myrobalan, Harad, Harra.

Conservation status:

Occur wild also cultivated for fruits.

Digonestic features:

Fruit 5 ribbed.

Description:

A deciduous tree. Bark grey to blackish, rough, with shallow vertical furrows. Leaves 7-18 x 5-10 cm, elliptic or ovate-oblong, petiole usually with two or more glands near the top. Flowers dull white, ca 1.5 cm across. Fruit a drupe, 2.5-3.5 cm long, obovoid or ellipsoid, more or less 5-ribbed; stone bony, obscurely angled, rough with gum vessels on the walls.

Phenology:

Fls.: Hot season. Frts.: Jan.-Mar. Leafless: Feb.-Mar.

Distribution:

Abundant in Northern India from Uttarakhand to Bengal and southwards to the Deccan. Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Malaya.

Where to see it:

Gate No. 2 side and Flowering Tree Section.

Uses:

Dried flesh of the fruit, surrounding the kernel, is rich in tannin (30-32%) and is an important tanning material. Roots, bark and wood also contain tannin. Fruits laxative, stomachic, tonic, and alternative; form a constituent of triphala, an important Ayurvedic medicine used for a host of ailments. Laxative principle, a glycoside, may be similar to sennoside. Fruit pulp is used in dentifrices. Coarsely powdered fruit is smoked in asthma. Bark diuretic and cardiotonic. Kernels yield a fatty oil. Tree yields a gum.

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