Diospyros fasciculosa

Family

Ebenaceae

Botanical Name

Diospyros fasciculosa (F.Muell.) F.Muell.

Mueller, F.J.H. von (1867) Intercolonial Exhibition Essays (1866-67) No. 5 Australian vegetation: 35. Type: ?.

Synonyms

Ebenus fasciculosa (F.Muell.) Kuntze, Revisio Generum Plantarum 2: 408(1891), Type: ?. Maba fasciculosa F.Muell., Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae 5: 163(1865), Type: Ad flumen Tweed, C. Moore; ad ripas aestui salino expositas fluminis Brisbanes River, F.M., W. Hill; in montibus ad Rockingham, Thozet.. Maba laxiflora Benth., Flora Australiensis 4: 290(1868), Type: Queensland. Rockhampton, Oshanesy.

Common name

Clustered Persimmon; Ebony; Ebony, Grey; Long Tom; Grey Ebony

Stem

Seldom exceeding 30 cm dbh. A thin red layer may occur between the inner and outer blaze.

Leaves

Leaf blades about 10-12.5 x 3.5-4.5 cm, petioles about 0.5-0.8 cm long, slightly grooved on the upper surface. Lateral veins curving but not forming distinct loops. Oil dots visible with a lens.

Flowers

Male flowers: Flowers about 5 mm long. Outer surface of the calyx sparsely clothed in pale appressed hairs. Outer surface of the corolla almost glabrous, except for occasional pale hairs on the lobes. Stamens about 18, fused in pairs in two whorls. Female flower features not available.

Fruit

Fruits seated on a three or 4-lobed persistent glabrous calyx. Fruits glabrous, +/- globular, about 12-15 mm diam. Testa brown to orange brown. Cotyledons much wider than the radicle.

Seedlings

Cotyledons ovate, about 25-28 x 11-13 mm, petioles very short. Roots dark brown to black. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade usually obovate, oil dots visible with a lens from the upper surface of the leaf blade, not visible from below. Roots black.

Distribution and Ecology

Occurs in CYP, NEQ and southwards as far as north eastern New South Wales. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 500 m. Usually grows in drier rain forest but also found in beach forest and gallery forest. Also occurs in Malesia, New Caledonia and Fiji.

Natural History

Food plant for the larval stages of the Cephenes Blue Butterfly. Common & Waterhouse (1981).

CYP

X

NEQ

X

Shrub (woody or herbaceous, 1-6 m tall)

X

Tree

X

RFK Code

669