Terminalia chebula Retz. (Combretaceae)
- Scientific name
- Terminalia chebula Retz.
- Family name
- Combretaceae
- Common name
- Chebulic myrobalan, myrobalan wood (English); mirobaran (Japanese)
- Local name
- Sam-o thai
Medium-sized, up to 25 m tall, deciduous tree of variable appearance, usually with short, cylindrical trunk, 5–10 m long; crown rounded, with spreading branches; bark usually with longitudinally fissures and woody scales; branchlets rusty-villous or glabrescent. Leaves alternate or opposite, simple, thin-coriaceous, ovate or elliptic-obovate, 7–12 × 4–6.5 cm, base round, apex obtuse to subacute, entire, short-haired beneath; petiole up to 2 cm long, with 2 glands at base of blade. Inflorescence axillary spikes, 5–7 cm long, simple or sometimes in a panicle. Flowers c. 4 mm in diameter, yellowish-white and unpleasantly scented. Calyx 5-lobed. Corolla absent. Stamens 10, exserted. Ovary inferior, 1-celled. Fruit an obovoid or oblong-ellipsoid drupe, 2.5–5 cm long, more or less 5-angular, yellow to orange-brown when ripe, glabrous.
Grows in mixed deciduous forests at elevations up to 1,500 m a.s.l. on soil types ranging from clayey to sandy. Propagated by seed sowing. Seed dormancy should be disrupted by prolonged fermentation or clipping the broad end of the stone without damaging the embryo, followed by soaking in cold water for 36 hours.
Fruit are harvested in the late rainy season. Dried fruit pulp has an average tannin content of 30–32%. Fresh fruits are eaten raw or as sam-o thai chae im (myrobalan compote).
Fruit are harvested in the late rainy season. Dried fruit pulp has an average tannin content of 30–32%. Fresh fruits are eaten raw or as sam-o thai chae im (myrobalan compote).