Balanites aegyptiaca (L.), is commonly known as ‘desert date’, or ‘Hingot’ is an evergreen, woody, true
xerophytic, spinous, perennial flowering tree belongs to the family Balanitaceae. It is widely distributed in
sandy, plain and dry land areas of dry land areas of Africa, South Asia and throughout the drier parts of
India specially in Western Rajasthan, West Bengal and Maharashtra. B. aegyptiaca is a multipurpose plant
with high economic potential for the people of desert. Different parts of the plant are confirmed to be
utilized in folkloric medicines for the treatment of many diseases in India and Asia. All parts of the plant
have gifted various pharmacological activity. The fruit and nuts of collected germplasm accessions are
showing peculiar morphological variation in size, shape colour and weight. This preliminary study shows
presence of variability among widely distributed population of this plant which will further help in
understanding natural variation available in habitat before planning exhaustive collection and conservation
programme for genetic improvement.