| Type | Indigenous |
|---|---|
| Family | Ebenaceae |
| Synonym | Diospyros tomentosa Roxb. non Poir. |
| Habit | Small to medium sized tree |
| Botanical Features | Dioecious trees, to 15 m high, bark spongy, deeply transversely and longitudinally cracked; branches ferruginous tomentose. Leaves simple, alternate, opposite or subopposite, estipulate; petiole 5-30 mm long, slender, grooved above, pubescent; lamina 3.5-16 x 3-11 cm, elliptic, elliptic-ovate, ovate, obovate-elliptic, oblong, obovate-oblong or orbicular, base round or cuneate, apex obtuse, round or emarginate, margin entire, glabrous above and pubescent beneath, coriaceous; lateral nerves 8-12 pairs, pinnate, prominent, intercostae reticulate. Flowers unisexual; male flowers: in axillary 3-flowered tomentose cymes; peduncle to 1.5 cm long, tomentose; bracts ferrugineously downy; calyx campanulate, hairy; lobes 4 or 5, ovate-triangular; corolla tube urceolate, ferruginous out side, glabrous within; lobes 4 or 5, ovate; stamens 12-16-[ 18]; filaments glabrous; connectives fulvous pilose on the back; female flowers: subsessile, axillary, solitary; bracts 3-4, scale-like, cauducous; calyx campanulate, hairy; lobes 4 or 5 rarely[6], triangular, margin reflexed; corolla tube cylindric-urceolate, hairy outside, glabrous within; lobes 4 or 5; staminodes 6-9 or absent; ovary superior, globose, hairy, 4-5-celled, ovule-1 in each cell; styles 2; stigmas 4. Fruit a berry, ovate-globose, smooth, seated on accrescent flat calyx with the lobes spreading with reflexed margins; pulp yellow; seeds 5. |