Vasilis Teodoridis:
Ebenaceae | Diospyros
29. Diospyros longibracteata Lecomte; Notul. Syst. (Paris). 4: 99. 1928.
??? chang bao shi
Trees 9--13 m tall. Trunk to 30 cm d.b.h. Branches darkish brown; young branches glabrous. Winter buds sparsely appressed pubescent. Petiole 1--1.2 cm; leaf blade elliptic; obovate; or oblong; 7--16 X 2--4 cm; leathery; glabrous; base cuneate; margin narrowly revolute; apex acuminate to obtusely acuminate; lateral veins 5--8 per side; reticulate veinlets dense and raised on both surfaces. Male flowers in 3--5-flowered pedunculate cymes; 0.8--1.2 cm; calyx campanulate; ca. 4 mm; densely appressed pubescent; calyx lobes 4; erect; flat at anthesis; triangular; shorter than tube; corolla urn-shaped; tube ca. 8 mm and outside densely sericeous; corolla lobes 4; ovate; ca. 3 mm; inside glabrous. Female flowers solitary; calyx lobes 4 or 5; soon crownlike after anthesis; both surfaces minutely pubescent. Fruiting pedicel 2--4 mm. Fruiting calyx strongly undulately plicate; appressed puberulent to strigose; lobes 4; erect; triangular; 6--10 X 7--8 mm; base reflexedly auriculate; margin subrevolute; apex acuminate. Berries subglobose; somewhat depressed; 2--3 cm in diam.; densely dark red strigose; glabrescent. Fl. May-Jul; fr. Oct.
Scattered in evergreen broadleaved forests; slopes or in valleys; 0-800 m. Hainan [Laos; Vietnam]
Wood of Diospyros longibracteata is suitable for furniture. The wood; generally called blackwood; becomes dark after soaking in water; and is used for chopsticks and musical instruments.
Diospyros longibracteata; D. susarticulata; D. maclurei; and D. metcalfii form a rather distinct group of species restricted to Hainan and Guangxi within China. The vegetative differences between them seem very minor; and the flowers are not known in the two latter species. The fruit of these species show considerable variation in size and shape; but much of the herbarium material is not mature. It is very difficult to assess the significance of this variation.