Diospyros wallichii King & Gamble, In Williams, Bull. Herb. Boiss. 2, 5 (1905)

Synonyms
Diospyros bakhuisii Boerl. & Koord.-Schum.
Diospyros pulchrinervia Kosterm.

Diagnostics
Mid-canopy tree up to 32 m tall and 56 cm dbh. Stipules absent. Leaves alternate, simple, penni-veined, usually hairy below. Flowers ca. 2.7 mm diameter, white-cream, with corolla tube, placed in bundles in leaf axils. Fruit ca. 22 mm long, brown-black, fleshy berry.

Description
Tree to 20(-32) m tall and 56 cm diameter. Twigs rusty appressed hairy when young, becoming glabrous with age. Leaves chartaceous, glabrous to rusty-hairy below, plane or bullate between veins, not subglaucous below; oblong-elliptic, rarely lanceolate, (14-)20-43 x 5.5-18 cm, base subcordate to rounded or broadly cuneate, sometimes bearing a pair of pit-glands, apex acuminate; midrib sunken (sometimes prominulous) above; lateral veins more-or-less sunken (sometimes prominulous) above, prominent below, (10-)11-30 pairs, diminishing toward leaf margin; intercostal venation vaguely scalariform; petiole 0.7-1.5 cm long. Male inflorescences slender, 1-2 cm long, each bearing to 9 flowers. Male flowers with calyx divided into 4 valvate triangular lobes; corolla salverform, c. 1 cm long. Female inflorescences 0.7-2.5 cm long, each bearing 1-3 flowers. Female flowers with calyx divided into 4 valvate lobes. Fruits in clusters of 1 or more, on 0.5-2 cm long stalk, globose, to c. 2.5 cm diameter, not ribbed, symmetric, often with small pointed tip in the centre of a depressed apex, densely rusty velvety. Fruit calyx accrescent, woody, densely rusty velvety; lobes short, erect but the sides often dilated and reflexed. [from Tree Flora of Sabah and Sarawak]

Ecology
In undisturbed mixed dipterocarp forests up to 1000 m altitude. On alluvial (swamps and riversides) and dry places (hillsides and ridges). On sandy to clayey soils, also on limestone.

Uses
Poisonous fruits used for fishing.

Distribution
India, Birma, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo.

Local names
Borneo: Kayu baleh, Kayu malam, Kayu tutup kebali, Mauhi, Tubai buah.