Ebenaceae

Persimmon Family

Trees and shrubs. Leaves mostly alternate, simple, entire; stipules absent. Flowers regular, unisexual (male and female on separate plants) or bisexual and with an articulation at the base. Sepals fused together at the base. Petals fused into a tube and with 3-5(7) lobes (as many as sepals). Stamens mostly 14-20, fused to the petals and in 2 whorls. Carpel 1. Ovary superior with 2 ovules in each cell and sometimes a false partition. Styles fused at least at the base. Fruit a berry, often with a persistent and enlarged calyx.

Diospyros kaki is grown for the edible persimmon fruit; most species have hard wood and several are the source of ebonies.

Flowers mostly unisexual with a joint at the base; ovules 2 per cell.

3 genera and about 575 species mostly tropical rainforest with a centre of distribution in the Malay Archipelago but also some northern temperate.

White (1978).

Source: Spencer, R. (1997). Ebenaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.

kingdom Plantae
phylum   Tracheophyta
class    Magnoliopsida
superorder     Asteranae
order      Ericales
Higher taxa
Subordinate taxa
genus        Diospyros L.