Diospyros borneensis Hiern., Trans. Cambr. Phil. Scoc. 12, 2 (1873)

Synonyms
Diospyros fecunda Fletcher
Diospyros tawaensis Merr.

Diagnostics
Sub-canopy tree up to 24 m tall and 30 cm dbh. Stipules absent. Leaves alternate, simple, penni-veined, secondary venation impressed on upper surface, clearly looping along margin. Flowers ca. 3 mm in diameter, white-yellow, with narrow corolla tube, placed in compressed cymes or solitary. Fruit ca. 33 mm long, brown-purple-black, fleshy berry with many flattened and elongate seeds.

Description
Tree to 24 m tall and 30 cm diameter. Twigs densely reddish brown tomentose when young, becoming glabrous with age, tending to dry black. Leaves chartaceous to coriaceous, glabrous, tending to dry black on both sides; oblong, elliptic, or ovate, 11-30 x 4-12.5 cm, base cuneate or rounded, apex acuminate; midrib sunken above; lateral veins prominent below, 8-14 pairs, tending to dry blacker than the rest of the leaf, joining to form an intramarginal vein very close to leaf margin; intercostal venation prominulous to prominent below, scalariform; petiole 0.8-2 cm long. Male inflorescences condensed cymes 0.5-1 cm long, each bearing 3-20 or more flowers, the size of the clusters increasing with the size of the branches on which they are borne. Male flowers with calyx shaped like a cone with truncate top, c. 0.7 cm long; corolla c. 1.5 cm long, salverform. Female inflorescences 0.5-1.5(-2.5) cm long, each bearing usually solitary flower. Female flowers with calyx in the form of a truncate cup of c. 1 x 1 cm, often split into two parts, and split further as the fruit develops. Fruits usually solitary, on 0.5-1.5(-2.5) cm long stalks, globose, to c. 4.2 cm diameter, often vertically split on drying, drying black, glabrous. Fruit calyx not accrescent, c. 2 cm wide, split irregularly and flattened, or slightly reflexed.

Ecology
In undisturbed mixed dipterocarp forests up to 300 m altitude. Scattered throughout the forest, from riversides to ridges. Mostly on sandy to clayey soils.

Uses
The wood is locally used to carve magical statues.

Distribution
Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo, Philippines.

Local names
Borneo: Kayu arang, Kayu balik, Kayu malam, Kumpang balik.