Diospyros blancoi
Growing primarily in the wet tropical biome.
Diospyros blancoi
Family: Ebenaceae
Common name: Mabolo, velvet apple
Chinese common name: 毛柿、台灣黑檀
Description
- Originated from Philippines and now widely distributed low and medium altitudes (South and Southeast Asia).
- Dioecious. Leaves alternate, oblong, entire margin, base usually rounded, apex pointed, coriaceous; upper surface dark-green, shiny, glabrous, lower surface silvery hairy; young leaves pale-green to pinkish, silky-hairy; petiole up to 1.7 cm long. Male flowers with axillary cymes; pedicel short; calyx tubular with deeply 4-lobed. creamy-white; stamens 24-30, united in pairs at base. female flowers solitary, axillary, subsessile, slightly larger than male flowers, with 4-5 (8-10) staminodes. Fruit is globose or depressed-globose berry, velvety, brown-reddish, skin thin, densely coated with short golden-brown hairs, flesh whitish, firm, rather dry, sweet, astringent, aromatic. Seeds are wedge-shaped in brown.
Adaptation
The ebony trunk and leathery leaves are salt and wind resistant, allowing them to survive on the coast.
