Diospyros buxifolia (Blume) Hiern. (EBENACEAE)
Description: The trees can reach heights of up to 20 meters. When young, the twigs are covered in fine hair (hirsute), while the bark is smooth, ranging in color from dark brown to black. Leaves alternate subsessile, elliptic, up to 5.5 x 2.4 cm, acute. Flowers unisexual, 4-merous. Male flowers 1-4 in subsessile cymes. Stamens 16; anthers dehiscing by apical pores. Female flower solitary. Fruit a berry, oblong, up to 1.5 cm long, brownish. Seeds smooth.
Flowering & Fruiting: February – July.
Distribution: India: Western Peninsula. Common in semi-evergreen and evergreen forests, especially in northern parts of Western Ghats. Indomalaya. Timber hard, used in construction work.
