Diospyros celebica (PROSEA)

File:Logo PROSEA.png

Plant Resources of South-East Asia
Introduction

List of species

Diospyros celebica Bakh.

Protologue: Gard. Bull. Str. Settl. 7: 166 (1933).

Vernacular names

Black ebony (En)
Indonesia: kayu maitong, sora, toetandu (Sulawesi), kayu lotong (South Sulawesi).

Distribution

Sulawesi.

Uses

D. celebica is probably the most important source of streaked ebony.

Observations

A medium-sized to fairly large tree up to 40 m tall, bole branchless for 10-26 m, up to 150 cm in diameter, with buttresses up to 4 m high, bark surface scaly, black.
Leaves linear-elliptical, 12-35 cm × 2.5-7 cm, base obtuse to slightly cordate, apex acute to obtusely acuminate, tertiary venation reticulate, slightly prominent on both surfaces.
Male flowers in 3-7-flowered cymes, 4-merous, stamens 16; female flowers in 1-3-flowered cymes, 4-merous, calyx lobes valvate, densely sericeous outside, corolla divided to about halfway, ovary with 4-8 uni-ovulate locules.
Fruit ovoid, 3.5-5 cm × 3-3.5 cm, appressed sericeous, glabrescent at base and apically.

D. celebica is found in lowland forest, up to 540 m altitude. Its stands have been heavily depleted and it is now considered a comparatively rare species. The density of the wood is 1010-1270 kg/m³at 15% moisture content.

Selected sources

15, 42, 212, 376, 403, 526, 537, 586, 595, 601, 602.