Diospyros ferrea
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Ericales
Family:	Ebenaceae
Genus:	Diospyros
Species:	D. ferrea
Binomial name
Diospyros ferrea (Willd.) Bakh.
Synonyms
Ehretia ferrea Willd. Diospyros ferrea var. buxifolia (Rottb.) Bakh. Maba buxifolia (Rottb.) Juss. Pisonia buxifolia Rottb.

Diospyros ferrea, known as black ebony, is a tree in the ebony family, distributed in Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malay Peninsula, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Laos (Khammouan) and Taiwan (Hengchun Peninsula and Orchid Island).

Common names

• Chinese - 象牙树 (literally "Ivory Tree")
• Philippines - batulinau
• Indonesia - bibisan, ai meten, wawama
• Sri Lanka - Hik-ul-Haenda
• Viet Nam - trandung
• French - ngavi du fourré littoral (‘ngavi’ of littoral thickets, Aubréville).
• West African - GHANA ADANGME gblεt∫o (FRI) NIGERIA HAUSA kas kawami (KO&S) YORUBA paroko (KO&S) SENEGAL DIOLA (Bayot) é tikuñi (JB) MANDING-MANINKA ko gélin ko: tree (JB) WOLOF sélah (JB)

Distribution

From West Africa to India, Indo-China, north to the Ryukyu Islands (Southern Japan), east to the Malesian area, Australia, Melanesia and Polynesia.

Uses

D. ferrea is reported to be an important source of black ebony, but this is doubtful because of the unsatisfactory taxonomy of the group involved.

Gallery

• 
  Plant, slow growth, dark green leaves, dioecious
• 
  Black bark and heartwood
• 
  Cracked bark shape
• 
  New branches

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Diospyros ferrea.

• Lemmens, R.H.M.J.; Soerianegara, I.; Wong, W.C., eds. (1995). Timber trees: Minor commercial timbers. Plant Resources of South-East Asia. Vol. 5. Leiden, the Netherlands: Backhuys Publishers. pp. 193–194.

External resources

• Dressler, S.; Schmidt, M. & Zizka, G. (2014). "Diospyros ferrea". African plants – a Photo Guide. Frankfurt/Main: Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg.
• https://archive.today/20130707154040/http://211.114.21.20/tropicalplant/html/print.jsp?rno=950
• http://plants.jstor.org/upwta/2_11
• http://www.biotik.org/laos/species/d/diofe/diofe_en.html
• https://web.archive.org/web/20160304053115/http://manoa.hawaii.edu/botany/plants_of_micronesia/index.php/scientific-names/360-diospyros-ferrea
• https://tai2.ntu.edu.tw/species/508%20001%2004%200
• https://kmweb.coa.gov.tw/theme_data.php?theme=plant_illustration&id=555