BLUMEA 23 (1977) 449—474 Notes on Asiatic, Pacific, and Australian Diospyros A.J.G.H. Kostermans c/o Herbarium Bogoriense, Bogor, Indonesia Summary In order alphabetical 56 species of Diospyros (Ebenaceae) are treated. Of these, 39 species are proposed as in new, 7 specific names are new combinations, 3 specific names appear a new status, and I as a new 6 listed in relation miscellaneous name; species are to notes or to synonymy. the the Flora of the A revision of Ebenaceae for new Ceylon gave me opportunity in 1974 to hunt during three months for Diospyros in Ceylon. The revisional work confronted me with Bakhuizen van den Brink Sr.'s monograph of he had treated also Diospyros (Bull. Jard. Bot. Buitenzorg, III, 15, 1936—1941), as extra-malesian species. Bakhuizen's of which The greatest headache was treatment Diospyros ferrea, in he had that head Howard lumped so many species, nobody could make or tail ofit any more. & Norlindh Arb. called the 'inconsistent and less than (J. Arn. 43, 1962: 100) monograph clear', certainly an understatement. started Fosberg (Occas. Papers B.P. Bishop Mus. 15, 1939: 121) to extract again species from Bakhuizen's conglomerate, but followed him in so far, that he considered the of. Hawaiian D. sandwicensis a subspecies D. ferrea. A. C. Smith 0. Arn. Arb. 52, 1971) and for Pacific Green (Kew Bull. 23, 1969) cleared problems species. well ofrelated I believe that Bakhuizen, who disentangled fairly a similar group species who had started (D. peregrina group), had been misled by his predecessor Hiern, the in the D. lumping ferrea group. In order better idea of the boundaries of I took the to get a specific Diospyros, oppor- of stationed the all tunity being at Leiden herbarium, to go through Malesian specimens, of which considerable number had accumulated the The result is a over years. presented of material for below. The number of new species is far from exhausted, but lack type comparison refrains me from treating more. Bakhuizen Their characters for a deal and recognized 4 subgenera. overlap great it is whether have theoretical value. doubtful they any or practical and based The circumscription of the sections of these subgenera is so confusing on such irrelevant characters, that they will probably be abolished altogether or for the greater part. adiensis Diospyros Kosterm., spec. nov. Arbor ramulis alternantibus chartaceis vel tenuiter coriaceis parva, gracilibus glabris, foliis rigide glabris acuminatis bullatis obscure dense reticularis ellipticis basi acutis, supra et minutissime prominule nervo nerviis subtus mediano costisque et secundariis impressis, pallidioribus laevibus nervo mediano tenuibus prominentibus costis sat patentibus tenuibus prominulis marginem versus arcuatim conjunctis, petiolis brevibus tenuibus, fructibus axillaribus solitariis globosis laevibus sessilibus fere glabris, calycibus fructiferis 450 BLUMEA VOL. 23, No. 2, 1977 tribus reflexis intus vel applanatis sat tenuibus, lobis triangularibus acutis pilosis, seminibus 2 3, convexo- _ applanatis laevibus; endospermiumaequabile. Typus: Moll BW9843 (L). Treelet 3 m high; branchlets slender, glabrous; end bud rather sparsely yellowish brown strigose. Leaves spirally arranged, stiffly chartaceous to thinly stiffly coriaceous, glabrous, elliptic, rarely subobovate-elliptic, cm base 9—12x3.5—5 > acuminate, acute; upper bullate and surface obscurely, minutely, prominulously reticulate; midrib, nerves, and veins slender, deeply impressed; lower surface paler, rather smooth, midrib slender, prominent, nerves rather patent, slender, prominulous, arcuately anastomosing at some distance from margin, c. 8 pairs (shorter ones sometimes in between). Petiole slender, 3 —5 mm long, slit-like channelled above. Fruit axillary, solitary, subsessile, globose, smooth, up to I.J cm diam., apiculate, with few minute, thin, adpressed hairs. Fruiting almost 6 the tube the lobes calyx flat, up to mm diam., part small, 3 triangular, acute, c. 4 mm long, completely reflexed, inside minutely appressed-pilose; pericarp thin, fruit seeds 2 or 3-celled; 2 or 3, flat-convex, smooth; endosperm equable. NEW GUINEA. rain Irian Jaya. Adi Isl., Kaimana Dist., alt. 25 m, forest, rather scarce, fruit yellow, BW 1.5 cm diam. (fresh), Febr., Moll 9843 (L). aifatensis Diospyros Kosterm., spec. nov. Arbor ramulis sat gracilibus dense adpresse ferrugineostrigosis./o/iii alternantibus rigide coriaceis ellipticis acuminatis breve basi rotundatis, supra glabris sublaevibus nervo mediano gracilibus impressis, subtus dense minuteque laeve reticularis et minutissime tomentellis nervo mediano prominulis costis erecto-patentibus gracilibus, foliis juvenilibus perdense adpresse rufo pilosis, inflorescentiis axilaribus unifloris multibracteatis, bracteis coriaceis sericeis, ovario hirsuto, staminodiis quattor hypogynis. T y p u s: Moll BW 12892 (L). bole 18 diam. buttressed. Bark black with Tree, 23 —29 m high, m, 35—65 cm, not much live bark numerous deep fissures, not peeling off, I—3 mm thick; 2—6 mm thick, light reddish brown, inside pink. Wood reddish brown to ligth red. Branchlets rather slender, densely (especially the flush) rusty adpressed-hirsute. Leaves spirally arranged, base contracted into stiffly coriaceous, elliptic, 6—12x2.5 —5-5 cm, shortly acuminate, the petiole, rounded, or the centre slightly cuneate; above rather smooth, glossy, glabrous, the except slender impressed midrib, below tomentellous, glabrescent, minutely smoothly midrib differentiated from reticulate, prominulous, nerves c. 12 pairs, erect-patent, hardly the reticulation. Petioles 6—10 mm long, channeled above, glabrescent. Inflorescences with (female?) axillary on the young shoots, a single flower on a very short peduncle lowest rufous-sericeous bracts. numerous fleshy, ovate, acute (the 5 mm long), densely Flower sessile, calyx small, corolla fleshy; stamens (or staminodes) 4, hypogineous, ovary hirsute. The is flowers available. this species imperfectly known, as no mature are However, large tree is easily recognizable by the leathery elliptic leaves and especially by the leaves of flush which covered the are by a very dense indumentum of rusty subsericeous hairs, and by the solitary flower, surrounded by large bracts. In the tree there was a central rot of diam. the BW. 12892, 30 cm in bole; apparently no ebony is formed. A. G. H. Kostermans: Notes J. on Diospyros 451 NEW GUINEA. Irian N. and W. Jaya. slope of upper Aifat valley between Senopi Aifatfekaan, of Kebar valley, alt. 850 m, rather scarce, Dec., buds, Moll BW 12892 (L); ibid., alt. 1050 m, Dec., buds, MollBW 12887 (L). alatella Diospyros Kosterm., spec. nov. Arbor, ramulis crassis dense minuteque brunneo tomentellis, foliis alternantibus chartaceis vel rigide chartaceis laevibus ellipticis vel obscure subobovato-ellipticis magnis obtusis basi breviter acutis, supra mediano costis filiforinibus subtus ab initio minutissime brunneo- opacis nervo impressis prominulis, sparse tomentellis filiformibus glabrescentibus nervo mediano prominentibus exceptis costis erecto-patentibus ramifloribus prominulis, petiolis robustis; fructibus ovoideo-globosis, truncatis, apice excavatis, 5—6 sulcatis ruminatum. et costatis glabrescentibus, 9—io-locellatis; endospermium T S y p u s: 18083 (I-)- Tree without buttresses. Bark overall 10—37 m tall, 20—25 cm diam., smooth, black, brittle with shallow surface mottled live bark with fissures, grey; hard, yellow orange mottling. Wood white, soft. Branchlets thick, dark brown tomentellous. Leaves spirally arranged, chartaceous to stiffly chartaceous, elliptic to slightly subobovate-elliptic, 25—32 x 9—13 cm, obtuse, base shortly acute; above dull, rather smooth, midrib slender, below smooth deeply impressed; nerves slender, prominulous; to very obscurely, very laxly reticulate, minutely sparsely dark brown adpressed-pilose, glabrescent, midrib —18 erect- prominent, minutely adpressed pilose, nerves up to 12 pairs, very slender, towards Petiole channeled patent, prominulous, margin arcuate. stout, 1.5—2 cm long, multibracteate above, glabrescent. Fruit on the branch, solitary, sessile on an obscure diam. and peduncle, truncate and —13-ribbed, cm ovoid-globose, apex excavate, n 4 high, ribs rather high, rounded, densely minutely brown pilose, glabrescent. Pericarp rather each with woody, up to 4 mm thick, septa thick, compartments 9 or 10, one large wedge-shaped seed with ruminateendosperm. Fruiting calyx.of 5 or 6 leafy, thick, ovate, brown appressed minutely pilose, acutish, 3 cm long, 2 cm wide, slightly concave lobes, to the fruit base. BORNEO. Sarawak. Semengoh Arboretum, mixed Dipterocarp forest, alt. 20 m, May, submature S fruit, 13968(L); Bintulu, Ulu Saran, Labang, primary mixed Dipterocarp forest on low undulatingland, yellow sandy clay soil, March, mature fr., S 18083 (L). Note. Close to D. palembanica according to the description, but the fruit and especial- ly the fruiting calyx are different. Diospyros alpina Kosterm., spec. nov. Arbor mediocris, ramulis rigidis gracilibus glabris, foliis alternantibus glabris rigide chartaceis vel sub- w coriaceis caudato-acuminatis mediano ellipticis basi cuneatis, utrinque laevibus, supra nervo impresso costis vix arcuatim obscuris, subtus nervo mediano prominentibus costis erecto-patentibus prominulis anastomantibus, petiolis gracilibus glabris, floribus femineis axillaribus solitariisque sessilibus, calycibus crassis dense vix campanulatisadpresse pilosis, lobis 4 triangularibus acutis, corollis adpresse pilosis calycem superantibus, fructibus submaturis