Khirni

Manilkara hexandra popularly known as Ceylon Iron Wood or khirni is a tree species in the tribe Sapoteae, in the family Sapotaceae. It is cultivated widely in the Central regions and Deccan Peninsula in India. Khirni is the local name used popularly in India and South Asian countries. Khirni fruits contain abundant reserves of proteins, carbohydrates, and useful fats, for optimal growth and development of the body.

Khirni is a small to a medium-sized glabrous evergreen tree that typically grows between 12 and 25 meters tall and one to three meters in trunk circumference. It is slow-growing but rather huge. Tropical and temperate woodlands are where it flourishes. Rough, fractured, and longitudinally fissured, blackish-gray bark. The density of the wood, which varies depending on the degree of drying, is said to range from roughly 0.83 to 1.08 tons per cubic meter. The wood is tough, strong, and heavy. It is utilized for large beams, heavy structural work, and gate posts. One seeded berry, 1.5 mm long and 8 mm wide, with an obovoid-oblong or ellipsoid shape, follows fertile flowers. They are initially green turning to reddish-yellow as they mature. Seeds are ovoid and about 1 cm long, reddish brown with shining testa.