Diospyros maritima

Family

Ebenaceae

Botanical Name

Diospyros maritima Blume

Blume, C.L. von (1827) Bijdragen tot de Flora van Nederlandsch Indie No. 7: 669. Type: ad littora australie Javae insulae.

Synonyms

Cargillia laxa R.Br., Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae: 526(1810), Type: Northern Australia, v.v., R. Brown. Cargillia megalocarpa F.Muell., Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae 5: 163(1865), Type: Ad rupes Escape Cliffs terrae Arnhemicae. McKinlay & Hulls.

Common name

Ebony, Broad Leaved; Broad Leaved Ebony

Stem

Dead bark almost black, blaze darkens markedly on exposure.

Leaves

Two large flat glands visible on the underside of the leaf blade near its junction with the petiole. Similar but smaller glands sometimes present elsewhere on the underside. Leaf blades about 10-20 x 5-8 cm. Midrib grooved or depressed on the upper surface. Lateral veins curving but forming only indistinct loops inside the blade margin.

Flowers

Male flowers: Flowers about 8-13 mm diam. Outer surface of the calyx and corolla densely clothed in pale prostrate hairs. Calyx tube about 5 x 3 mm, lobes about 5 mm long, apices obtuse. Corolla tube about 8 mm long, lobes about 5-7 mm long. Anthers about 3 x 0.4 mm, filaments about 1.5 mm long. Stamens about 16-22, fused in pairs in two whorls. Female flower features not available.

Fruit

Fruits seated on a truncate or obscurely 4-lobed sericeous persistent calyx. Fruits glabrous, depressed globular, about 25-30 mm diam.

Seedlings

Cotyledons cordate to ovate, about 25 x 15 mm. At the tenth leaf stage: leaves narrowly elliptic, much paler on the underside, midrib depressed on the upper surface; terminal bud clothed in dark brown hairs.

Distribution and Ecology

Occurs in WA, NT, CYP and NEQ. Altitudinal range from near sea level to about 30 m. Grows in monsoon forest but is particularly common in beach and similar forests close to sea level. Also occurs in New Guinea.

Natural History

This species has been used as a fish poison in Vietnam. (http://squid2.laughingsquid.net/hosts/herbweb.com /herbage/A8924.htm)