4204

5(2): Timber trees; Minor commercial timbers

Diospyros venosa Wallich ex A.DC.

This article should be read together with the article on the genus: Diospyros in the Handbook volume indicated above in this database.

Prodr. 8: 233 (1844).

Maba merguensis Hiern (1873), Maba teysmannii (Hassk.) Hiern (1873), Diospyros hermaphroditica (Zoll.) Bakh. (1933).

Indonesia: kayu budeng (Javanese), ki lutung (Sundanese), lala-lalar bungo (Sumatra). Malaysia: kumoi (Peninsular). Singapore: timah-timah. Thailand: khaomai, dam, mai (peninsular).

Burma (Myanmar), Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, Borneo and the Moluccas.

The wood is used as black ebony.

A medium-sized tree up to 27 m tall, bole straight, branchless for up to 20 m, up to 80 cm in diameter, bark surface smooth, black; leaves elliptical or ovate to lanceolate, 4—25 cm 2—12 cm, base cuneate to rounded, apex acute to acuminate, glabrous above, below sparsely hairy especially on the midrib, tertiary venation reticulate, often depressed above, prominent below; male flowers in 9—many-flowered cymes, 3—4-merous, stamens (6—)12—25; female and bisexual flowers in 3—many-flowered cymes, 3—4-merous, calyx lobes valvate-plicate, pubescent to glabrescent outside, usually glabrous inside, corolla divided to one-quarter, staminodes 3—6, ovary with 3—4 styles free or connate at base and 6—8 uni-ovulate locules; fruit oblong, ellipsoid or globose, 1.3—2.5 cm 1.0—1.7 cm, glabrous except for a basal ring of hairs. Diospyros venosa is a highly variable species within which 2 varieties have been distinguished: var. venosa and var. olivacea (King & Gamble) Bakh. (synonym: Diospyros olivacea King & Gamble). The latter is characterized by its velvety lower leaf surface, twigs, and inflorescences. The status of a third variety (var. borneensis Bakh.) is uncertain. Diospyros venosa occurs scattered in lowland to lower montane forest, up to 1300 m altitude.

[42]Bakhuizen van den Brink, R.C., 1936–1955. Revisio Ebenacearum Malayensium. Contributions a l'Ttude de la flore des Indes NTerlandaises XXXIII. Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de Buitenzorg, STrie III, 15(1–5): 1–515, 92 plates.
[234]Heyne, K., 1927. De nuttige planten van Nederlands-Indid [The useful plants of the Dutch East Indies]. 2nd edition, 3 volumes. Departement van Landbouw, Nijverheid en Handel in Nederlandsch-Indid, 's-Gravenhage. 1953 pp.
[457]Ng, F.S.P., 1977. Notes on the systematy of Malayan phanerogams XXVI. Ebenaceae. Malaysian Forester 40: 210–248.
[575]Smitinand, T. & Larsen, K. (Editors), 1970–. Flora of Thailand. The Forest Herbarium, Royal Forest Department, Bangkok.
[705]Whitmore, T.C. & Ng, F.S.P. (Editors), 1972–1989. Tree flora of Malaya. A manual for foresters. 2nd edition. 4 volumes. Malayan Forest Records No 26. Longman Malaysia SDN. Berhad, Kuala Lumpur & Petaling Jaya.

M.S.M. Sosef

Sosef, M.S.M., 1995. Diospyros venosa Wallich ex A.DC.. In: Lemmens, R.H.M.J., Soerianegara, I. and Wong, W.C. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 5(2): Timber trees; Minor commercial timbers. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea