Group:
1 Angiosperms (Flowering Plants) - I - Dicotyledons
Family:
Ebenaceae
Genus:
Diospyros
Common sinhala name:
Ilipaththa
Habit:
Large shrub or Tree
Origin:
Native
National conservation status:
LC-Least Concern
Legal status:
Not protected
Similar species:
Diospyros pegophila I.M.Turner
All vernacular names:
Thurana, Pila, Kaluhabaraliya, Jabara, Ilipaththa
Contributors for Images:
Rajitha Welithara (ID-RI) Bhikku Nyanatusita (ID-BN & JdV), Jecob de Vlas (ID-JdV)
Small tree, rarely up to 7 m high and 15 cm diam., in the drier zones usually not more than 2 m tall. Crown very dense. Bark blackish to dark grey, rather smooth, roughish to the touch, in old trees fissured, rough, black, 0.5-2 mm thick; live bark reddish-brown, pinkish outside, up to 3 mm thick. Branchlets numerous, slender, stiff, apically very sparsely, minutely sericeous. Leaves alternate, stiffly coriaceous, obovate-oblong or spathulate, 6 x 15―10―15 x 30 mm, obtuse to very obscurely, broadly, very shortly obtusely acuminate, often emarginate, base tapered into the 1-2 mm long petiole; above smooth, midrib slender, level with the surface or basal part slightly impressed, below reticulation conspicuous, prominulous, lax, the veins smooth, thick, lateral nerves 5-6 pairs, erect-patent, at some distance from the margin arcuately connected. Flowers 1―3, axillary, white. Male flower: calyx pale yellowish-brown (fresh) cup-shaped or broadly campanulate, 3 mm long, outside densely sericeous; lobes 3, triangular-ovate, acute, 1-1.5 mm long, erect Corolla tube tubular, slightly swollen about the middle, 5-6 mm long, densely sericeous outside; lobes 3, oblong-ovate, acute, 1-1.5 mm long, patent, glabrous inside. Stamens 6, hypogynous with long, narrow, acute, 2 mm long anthers and 1 mm long, pubescent filaments. Pistil rudiment globose, densely pilose. Female flower as male one; ovary globose, silky-pubescent, style long, densely sericeous, stigmas 3, short. Fruit smooth, glossy, yellow to brown-red (fresh), ovoid to subglobose, 7-9 mm long, initially sericeous around apex, style long persistent. Fruiting calyx cup-shaped, shallow, 2-3 mm deep; lobes 3, depressed-triangular, much broader than high, acute, small. Seeds brown or less, wedge-shaped, 4 mm long; endosperm equable. (FOC)
Maba buxifolia var. ebenus Thw.