Terminalia zeylanica Van Heurck & Muell. Arg.

A medium-sized, up to 25 m tall, deciduous tree of variable appearance, with a usually short cylindric bole of 5-10 m length, 60-80 cm in diameter at breast height; crown rounded, with spreading branches; bark dark brown, usually longitudinally cracked with woody scales; branchlets rusty-villous or glabrescent. Leaves alternate or opposite, thin-coriaceous, ovate or elliptic-obovate, 7-12 cm x 4-6.5 cm, rounded at base, obtuse to subacute at apex, entire, pubescent beneath; petiole up to 2 cm long, provided with 2 glands at the base of the leaf blade. Flowers in axillary 5-7 cm long spikes, simple or sometime branched, about 4 mm across, 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, faintly 5-angular, yellow to orange-brown when ripe, glabrous.

The species is found on a variety of soils, clayey as well as shady.

T. chebula occurs scattered in teak forest, mixed deciduous forest, extending into forests of comparatively dry types. In Thailand and Burma, it is found together with teak. The tree is a light-demander, but withstands some shade in youth, and may benefit then from protection from the sun. It is fairly tolerant to frost and drought, and withstands fire, recovering well from burning and also from coppicing. Regeneration is usually poor, maybe because people harvest the fruit but also because of predation by animals. T. chebula is known to withstand fire well.

T. chebula has been introduced to Singapore, where it failed, but it was planted successfully in the botanical garden in Bogor, Java.

The fallen fruits are collected and dried thoroughly first. Later the hardened flesh is removed. Fermentation of the stones gives the best germinative results, but clipping the broad end of the stone without damaging the embryo, followed by soaking in cold water for 36 hours gives good results too. Direct sowing is not advisable, because the risk of predation and because the seeds germinate poorly. In India, seeds are usually sown in boxes or nursery beds before the rainy season, covered with soil, and watered done in the first or second rainy season. Shading is desirable in early stages in the nursery and after transplanting. The germination rate of T. chebula seed is up to 50%. Propagation by cuttings is possible, but less successful than transplanting nursery-raised seedlings into the field. In the forest, regeneration is facilitated by creating small gaps in the canopy, and this is supplemented by sowing seeds in the clearings.

Husbandry: The tree coppices well. The resulting shoots are 2-3 m long after 5 years.

The tree itself does not suffer from any serious disease or pest, altough some defoliators have been reported. Pests: Fallen fruits are heavily predated by rodents and insects. The Timber is attacked by borers.

Tannin or dyestuff: The fruits are rich in tannin, and are used on a large scale in India in the leathery industry, usually combined with syntans and with other vegetable tanning materials such as black wattle (Acacia mearnsii De Wild.), avaram (Cassia auriculata L.) and Ceriops tagal (Perr.) C.B. Robinson. Chebulic myrobalan is used in the production of sole leather, and also in a last tannage after chrome tanning to give the leather weight and a fast colour. An extracts is suitable for pretannage of cattle hides. A yellow dye can be prepared from fruits plus alum; a black dye and ink can be prepared from the fruits plus iron. Myrobalans are also used as a mordant for the basic aniline dyes. Medicine: The fruits have numerous medicinal properties: laxative, stomathic, tonic, and alterative. They are often used in combination with emblic myrobalan (Phyllanthus emblica L.) and beleric myrobalan (Terminalia bellirica (Gaertner) Roxb.). They show antibacterial and antifungal activity, and are used to cure inflamed gums and as a relief in asthma. Timber: The wood is used as construction timber and for furniture, carts and implements, but is not of much value. Food: The fruits are edible.