中文名（Chinese Name）：诃子
学名（Scientific Name）：Terminalia chebula (Gaertn.) Retz.
英文名（English Common Name）：myrobalan
别名（Chinese Common Name）：诃黎勒
异名（Synonym）：Terminalia gangetica Roxb.  Myrobalanus gangetica (Roxb.) Kostel.  Myrobalanus chebula (Retz.) Gaertn.
科属（Family & Genus）：使君子科（Combretaceae）诃子属
形态特征（Description）：乔木，高可达30米，径达1米，树皮灰黑色至灰色，粗裂而厚，枝无毛，皮孔细长，明显，白色或淡黄色；幼枝黄褐色，被绒毛。叶互生或近对生，叶片卵形或椭圆形至长椭圆形，长7-14厘米，宽4.5-8.5厘米，先端短尖，基部钝圆或楔形，偏斜，边全缘或微波状，两面无毛，密被细瘤点，侧脉6-10对；叶柄粗壮，长1.8-2.3厘米，稀达3厘米，距顶端1-5毫米处有2(-4)腺体。穗状花序腋生或顶生，有时又组成圆锥花序，长5.5-10厘米；花多数，两性，长约8毫米；花萼杯状，淡绿而带黄色，干时变淡黄色，长约3.5毫米，5齿裂，长约1毫米，三角形，先端短尖，外面无毛，内面被黄棕色的柔毛；雄蕊10枚，高出花萼之上；花药小，椭圆形；子房圆柱形，长约1毫米，被毛，干时变黑褐色；花柱长而粗，锥尖；胚珠2颗，长椭圆形。核果，坚硬，卵形或椭圆形，长2.4-4.5厘米，径1.9-2.3厘米，粗糙，青色，无毛，成熟时变黑褐色，通常有5条钝棱。花期5月，果期7-9月。
分布（Distribution）：产云南，生于海拔800-1800米的疏林中，东南亚也有。
用途（Use）：果实供药用，能敛肺涩肠、为治疗慢性痢疾的有效良药。
引自中国植物志英文版FOC Vol. 13 Page 311, 313
Terminalia chebula Retzius, Observ. Bot. 5: 31. 1788.
诃子 he zi| Combretaceae  | Terminalia
Trees to 30 m tall; trunk to 1 m d.b.h. Bark grayish black to gray, coarsely split and thick. Branchlets conspicuously white or yellowish long lenticellate, glabrous, or tomentose or appressed villous at least when young, hairs tawny, rarely silvery. Leaves alternate or subopposite, spaced along branchlets; petiole 1-3 cm, moderately stout, with 2(-4) glands 1-5 mm below apex; leaf blade elliptic, 7-18 × 4.5-10 cm, both surfaces glabrous, or appressed (and rarely silvery) villous at least when young, base obtuse-rounded or cuneate, oblique, apex mucronate; lateral veins in 6-12 pairs. Inflorescences axillary or terminal, simple spikes, 5-10 cm, numerous flowered, sometimes grouped at branchlet apex and forming a panicle; axis glabrous or sparsely hairy, with denser hairs near base of flowers. Flowers slightly fragrant, bisexual. Calyx tube distally cupular, 2.5-3.5 mm, abaxially glabrous, adaxially tawny tomentose; lobes 5, apex mucronate to aristate. Stamens 10, exserted, 3-4 mm. Fruit not stipitate, blackish brown when ripe, ovoid or broadly so, ellipsoid, or cylindric-ovoid, obtusely 5-ridged, 2-4.5 × 1.2-2.5 cm, rigid, becoming deeply wrinkled when dry, glabrous. Fl. May-Jun, Sep, fr. Jul-Dec. 2n = 24, 48, 72.
Sparse forests, secondary bamboo forests, sunny forest margins, thickets, also cultivated on village commons; below 500 to 1800 m. Native in W Yunnan; cultivated in Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi (Nanning), and Taiwan (Nantou) [Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Laos, Malaysia (introduced), Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam].
The fruit yields a black dye used to dye cloth, at least in Guangdong.

（责任编辑：徐晔春）