TITLE:
A New Record on Flowering in Harar (Terminalia chebula Retz.) Seedling
AUTHORS:
Kamal Sharma, Sanjeev Thakur, Seema Sharma, Som Dutt Sharma
KEYWORDS:
Terminalia chebula; Early Flowering; Seedling
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.3 No.5,
May
30,
2012
ABSTRACT: Harar (Terminalia chebula), a large deciduous tree belongs to family combretaceae. It grows naturally in greater part of India up to 1500 m elevation. Due to several alkaloids present in fruit, it is used as laxative, purgative and astringent for curing a number of ailments. Keeping in view its medicinal and tanning properties, the authors have been working for the last two decades on various aspects like propagation and development of promising strains of harar. Grafting/budding techniques have been standardized to produce true to type precocious plants which bear flower in two to three years. However, flowering has been observed in three months old seedling, which can be ascribed to biochemical and/or cellular changes. Early flowering is a rare incidence in tree seedlings which otherwise could be very useful for breeding and early evaluation of fruit species.