Plant · P-905

Bibhitaki

Terminalia bellirica

Bibhitaki, also called beleric myrobalan, is a fast-growing deciduous tree in the leadwood-tree family, native from southwest China across the Indian subcontinent and mainland Southeast Asia to Indonesia, found on sunny mountain slopes and in scattered forest between about 500 and 1400 metres elevation, shedding its leaves briefly in the dry season. It reaches about 35 metres tall, wants full sun and will not grow in shade, and tolerates sandy, loamy or clay soil across a pH range of about 5.5 to 7.5, doing best on soil that dries between waterings though it can stand brief flooding; it grows fastest between 20 and 33 C, tolerates a wide range down to 5 C, but frost around -1 C can kill the tree outright. The astringent, dark red fruit is edible fresh or as a preserve and is one of the three fruits in the Ayurvedic formula triphala, used as a laxative when unripe and an anti-diarrhoeal astringent when ripe, along with anthelmintic and general tonic uses; the seed kernel, by contrast, is reported narcotic and best avoided beyond a small taste. Seeds also yield about 40 percent of a clear oil used in hair and soap making, and the tannin-rich dried fruit and bark supply a dye and ink source; the low-durability timber sees only rough construction and fuel use. It coppices well and responds strongly to direct seeding, germinating 85 to 100 percent from fresh, pre-soaked seed within two to five weeks.