6406.000 Diospyros L.

Trees shrubs or suffrutices. Leaves nearly always alternate; margin entire. Infl. cymose or fasciculate or flowers solitary. Calyx 3-8-lobed or cup-shaped and entire, usually accrescent. Corolla 3-8-lobed. Stamens 2-100 or more. Disk well-developed or not, sometimes fimbriate. Fruit usually a 2- or more seeded berry. Seed not subspherical (in ours), with 2 lines radiating from the apex.

Two other more informal characters which may help one to recognise Diospyros spp. in the field are firstly that the growing tip (the young leaf) is held at an angle to the main stem and secondly that small leaves are often found on a branch amongst the larger more normal-sized leaves.

Worldwide: c. 475 species in the tropics