Trees, shrubs or undershrubs, rarely scandent, usually dioecious
Leaves usually alternate, simple, chartaceous to coriaceous
Flowers in axillary, subsessile clusters, cymes, pseudoracemes, or solitary, unisexual or falsely bisexual and functionally male
Calyx (4)5(-7)-lobed, persistent and mostly accrescent, deeply lobed or bladder-shaped and toothed on mouth
Corolla urceolate, 3-5-lobed
Stamens 3-15, in a single or double whorl
Ovary on somewhat fleshy disc, 2-16-locular, with 1 or 2 pendulous ovules in each locule
Fruit a berry with several seeds, rarely only 1, becoming dry and dehiscing slowly
Seeds usually elongate, encircled by a single, thin, ± straight line; endosperm bony or flinty, occasionally ruminate
x = 15 (high polyploidy, B-chromosomes)
Nomenclature:
Diospyros L.
Linnaeus: 1057 (1753)
Hiern: 476 (1906)
De Winter: 54 (1963)
White: 251 (1983)
Royena L.
Linneaus: 397 (1753)
Hiern: 445 (1906)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Species ± 475, cosmopolitan in tropical, subtropical and temperate areas (America ± 80, Africa ± 94, Madagascar ± 100, Asia ± 200)
Southern Africa: ± 20 species and several subspecies, Namibia, Botswana, Northern Province, North-West, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Swaziland, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Northern, Western and Eastern Cape
References:
DE WINTER, B. 1963. Ebenaceae. Flora of southern Africa 26
HIERN, W.P. 1906. Ebenaceae. Flora capensis 4,1
LINNAEUS, C. 1753. Species plantarum. Laurentius Salvius, Stockholm
WHITE, F. 1983. Ebenaceae. Flora zambesiaca 7,1
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Welcome to Biodiversity Advisor 2.0!
Biodiversity Advisor, developed by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and its Data Partners, is a system that will provide integrated biodiversity information to a wide range of users who will have access to geospatial data, plant and animal species distribution data, ecosystem-level data, literature, images and metadata.
The integrated information comes from our much-loved Botanical Database of Southern Africa (BODATSA) also known as Plants of Southern Africa (POSA), Zoological Database of Southern Africa (ZODATSA), Biodiversity Geographic Information System (BGIS), SANBI's institutional repository (Opus) and others.
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