font settings and languages

Font Size: Large | Normal | Small
Font Face: Verdana | Geneva | Georgia
Languages:

Diospyros crassiflora

(African Persimmon)

Overview

[ Back to top ]

Endangered
Threat status

Common Names

[ Back to top ]

Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in Chinese:

Fei Zhou Shi

Common Names in English:

African Ebony, African Persimmon, Benin Ebony, Ebony

Common Names in French:

ébène D´afrique, ébène Du Gabon, ébène Noir, Ebènier Véritable Du Gabon, Evila, Mevini

Common Names in German:

Afrikanisches Ebenholz, Madagaskar Ebenholz

Common Names in Japanese:

Diosupirosu Atoropurupurea, Diosupirosu Karasifurora

Common Names in Portuguese:

ébano, Das Antilhas

Common Names in Spanish:

ébano

Description

[ Back to top ]

Family Ebenaceae

Trees or erect shrubs , occasionally with spine-tipped branchlets . Leaves alternate, rarely opposite, entire; stipules absent. Flowers actinomorphic , usually unisexual , dioecious, or polygamous, rarely bisexual . Male flowers often in cymes, sometimes in clusters or solitary; pistil rudimentary or absent. Female flowers often solitary, axillary , imperfect or without stamens. Calyx 3--7-lobed, persistent and often becoming enlarged in female or bisexual flowers; lobes abutting or overlapping in bud. Corolla 3--7-lobed; lobes convolute, rarely overlapping or abutting. Stamens hypogynous or at bottom of corolla, 2--4 X as many as corolla lobes, rarely as many as corolla lobes and alternate with them; filaments free or united in pairs. Ovary superior, 2--16-locular; ovules 1 or 2 per locule. Styles 2--8, free or basally united; stigma entire or 2-lobed. Fruit a ± fleshy berry, with few to several seeds. Seeds usually oblong ; endosperm sometimes ruminate ; hilum small.

Three genera and ca. 500 species: mostly in the tropics; one genus and 60 species (43 endemic) in China.[1]

Genus Diospyros

Trees or shrubs , deciduous or evergreen . Terminal buds absent. Branchlet tips sometimes forming a spine. Leaves alternate, occasionally minutely translucent dotted or with gland pits. Flowers dioecious or polygamous. Male flowers in axillary cymes, usually on basal part of current year's branchlets, deciduous soon after anthesis ; stamens 4 to numerous , often paired and forming 2 whorls; ovary rudimentary . Female flowers usually solitary, axillary; staminodes 1--16 or absent; stigma often 2-cleft. Calyx usually 3--5(--7) -lobed, sometimes truncate . Corolla urn-shaped, campanulate , or tubular , 3--5(--7) -lobed, deciduous. Berries fleshy to somewhat leathery, usually with an enlarged persistent calyx. Seeds 1--10(or more), often laterally compressed .

About 485 species: pantropical and extending into temperate regions ; 60 species in China, most abundant in SE and SW China, several incompletely known and of uncertain status. [2]

Habitat

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 932 meters (0 to 3,058 feet).[3]

Ecology: Lowland rainforest.

Taxonomy

[ Back to top ]

Notes

Publishing author : Hiern Publication : in Trans. Camb. Phil. Soc. xii. (1873) 260.

Similar Species

[ Back to top ]

Members of the genus Diospyros

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 943 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

D. abyssinica · D. abyssinica subsp. chapmaniorum · D. abyssinica subsp. reticulata · D. acapulcensis · D. acocksii · D. acreana · D. acris · D. aculeata · D. acuminata · D. acunae · D. acuta · D. adenophora · D. adiensis · D. aequoris · D. affinis · D. aggregata · D. ahernii · D. aifatensis · D. akaraiensis · D. alata · D. alatella · D. albens · D. albiflora · D. alboflavescens · D. alpina · D. amaniensis · D. amara · D. amazonica · D. ambigua · D. amboinensis · D. amisandra · D. amoena · D. amplexicaulis · D. ampullacea · D. analamerensis · D. anceps · D. andamanica · D. andersonii · D. angulata (Bois D'ÉbÈne Feuilles) · D. angustifolia · D. anisandra · D. anisocalyx · D. anitae · D. ankifiensis · D. anosivolensis · D. anzoateguiensis · D. apeibacarpos · D. apiculata · D. araripensis · D. areolata · D. areolifolia · D. argentea · D. argyi · D. armata · D. artanthaefolia · D. artanthifolia · D. arupaj · D. assimilis · D. atra · D. atrata · D. atropurpurea · D. atrotricha · D. attenuata · D. aurea · D. auriculata · D. australis (Black-Plum) · D. austro-africana · D. austro-africana de · D. austroafricana · D. balansae · D. balfouriana · D. bambuseti · D. bangoiensis · D. bangueyensis · D. bantamensis · D. baranensis · D. barberi · D. baroniana · D. barteri · D. batocana · D. baumii · D. beccarii · D. bejaudii · D. bemarivensis · D. benstonei · D. bequaertii · D. bernieri · D. bernieriana · D. bezofensis · D. bibracteata · D. bicolor · D. bipindensis · D. blancoi (Velvet Persimmon) · D. blepharophylla · D. blumutensis · D. boala · D. bodinieri · D. boivini · D. borbonica · D. borneensis

More Info

[ Back to top ]

Further Reading

[ Back to top ]

Notes

[ Back to top ]

Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 28, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Shugang Li, Michael G. Gilbert & Frank White "Ebenaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 15 Page 215. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. "Diospyros". in Flora of China Vol. 15 Page 215. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  3. Mean = 540.960 meters (1,774.803 feet), Standard Deviation = 293.970 based on 26 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 2009-07-03