Operation Wildflower
  • Home
  • Albums
  • Links
    • Botanical Gardens
    • OWF Sites
    • Public Parks, Gardens and Reserves
    • Reference Sites
    • Private Parks, Gardens and Reserves
  • Information
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Articles
    • Plant Records
      • Aloes
      • Bulbs
      • Climbers
      • Cycads
      • Euphorbias
      • Ferns
      • Grasses
      • Herbs
      • Orchids
      • Parasites
      • Shrubs
      • Succulents
      • Trees
    • Sources of Information
    • Disclaimer
    • Subject Index
Home Home » GENERA D » Diospyros » Diospyros dichrophylla
Back to Category Overview
Total images in all categories: 11,506
Total number of hits on all images: 6,514,263

Diospyros dichrophylla

Diospyros dichrophylla
Start View full size
[Please activate JavaScript in order to see the slideshow]
Previous Previous
Image 9 of 44  
Next Next
Image 11 of 44  
  • Diospyros austro-africana
  • Diospyros austro-africana fruit
  • Diospyros austro-africana var. austro-africana
  • Diospyros austro-africana var. austro-africana calyx
  • Diospyros austro-africana var. austro-africana fruit from the back
  • Diospyros austro-africana var. austro-africana leaf midrib
  • Diospyros austro-africana var. austro-africana leaves
  • Diospyros austro-africana var. austro-africana silhouette
  • Diospyros dichrophylla
  • Diospyros dichrophylla fruit
  • Diospyros glabra
  • Diospyros glabra buds
  • Diospyros glabra flowers
  • Diospyros glabra retaining leftovers
  • Diospyros lycioides subsp. guerkei
  • Diospyros lycioides subsp. guerkei leaves
  • Diospyros lycioides subsp. lycioides

Image information

Description

Diospyros dichrophylla, commonly known as star-apple, is a shrub reaching 2 m or 3 m, occasionally a tree that may reach 13 m in height (SA Tree List No. 603).

It has smooth or wrinkled bark, brown or grey in colour with yellowish, velvety hairs upon ascending young branches. The wood is hard and black like ebony, conforming to the Ebenaceae family characteristic.

The leaves are alternate or spirally arranged and ascending on petioles of 3 mm to 6 mm long. Leaf-shape is oblanceolate (lance-shaped, wider near the tip than the base) to narrowly ovate (oval, wider near the tip than the base) with entire margins that are rolled under. The leaf tip tapers broadly or is rounded, the base tapering. The leathery leaf-blades are glossy dark green on top and hairless, pale olive-green below and hairy. The midrib is prominent on the lower surface, the about five lateral veins indistinct. Leaf dimensions are 1,5 cm to 8 cm by 0,6 cm to 2,5 cm.

The specific name, dichrophylla, is derived from the Greek words dis- meaning twice, chroma meaning colour and phyllon meaning leaf, indicating two leaf colours; probably referring to the colour difference between upper and lower leaf surfaces.

The species distribution is coastal from Bredasdorp along the south coast through the Eastern Province and KwaZulu-Natal as well as the Mpumalanga and Limpopo lowveld; also in some neighbouring countries.

The habitat is coastal scrub and sandy flats, open grassland, wooded kloofs, rocky slopes and forest margins. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century.

The species resembles D. simii (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Schmidt, et al, 2002; iSpot; http://redlist.sanbi.org).

Hits
313
Photographer
Thabo Maphisa
Author
Ivan Latti
 
Back to Category Overview
Powered by JoomGallery