Diospyros lotus, L.

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1972, Flora Europaea. Volume 3. Diapensiacea to Myoporaceae, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press : 52

1. D. lotus L. , Sp. Pl. 1057 (1753).

Tree up to 14 m, with furrowed bark. Young twigs pubescent. Leaves 6-12 x 2-5-

5 cm, elliptical to oblong, rounded to broadly cuneate at base, acuminate, entire, pubescent when young but usually glabrescent above, shortly petiolate. Male flowers 2-3 together, c. 5 mm; female flowers solitary, 8-10 mm. Calyx with 4 short, acute, ciliate lobes, villous within. Corolla reddish- or greenish-white, with recurved, rounded, ciliate lobes c. £ as long as the tube. Fruit c. 15 mm in diameter, globose, yellow or blue-black. Cultivated locally for its edible fruits; widely naturalized in the Balkan peninsula and occasionally elsewhere in S. Europe. [Al BI Bu?Ga Gr He Hs It Ju.] (Asia)

D. kaki L. fil. , Suppl. 439 (1781), from Japan and Korea, is sometimes cultivated in S. Europe for its edible fruits. It has male flowers c. 10 mm in diameter and the orange-yellow fruit is 35-70 mm in diameter.